You Can Go With Harry, And I'll Just
by illjwamh
Summary: What if Ginny hadn't already agreed to go to the Yule Ball with Neville?
1. Chapter 1

If you're wondering why I'm uploading a new story instead of one that I'm already in the middle of (like a responsible person would do), please read my updated author profile.

As for this story itself, it's something I started a long time ago. Like, a _long_ time ago. As I was finishing this chapter, I kind of had to paste the new stuff in with the old stuff and then sand over the rough seams. Hope it turned out all right.

Another thing I had to do goes against every instinct I have as a writer: summarizing. Lots and lots of summarizing. There are huge chunks of this story (the early chapters in particular) that don't differ from the books. I could either paraphrase all of the narration, which would have been tedious (not to mention somewhat trite), or just copy/pasted it all, which surely would have gotten the story taken down. Thus, I summarized. There are a few stretches where I couldn't, and those are indicated by bolded italics. I didn't bother if it was just a line or two, but anything longer than that will be marked as part of the original text. The lead-in to this story is from the middle of chapter 22 of Goblet of Fire, "The Unexpected Task". We join our heroes on page 348 of the British adult hardcover edition.

~O~O~O~O~

 _ **Just then Hermione climbed in through the portrait hole.**_

' _ **Why weren't you two at dinner?' she said, coming over to join them.**_

' _ **Because – oh, shut up laughing, you two – because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!' said Ginny.**_

 _ **That shut Harry and Ron up.**_

' _ **Thanks a bunch, Ginny,' said Ron sourly.**_

' ** _All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?' said Hermione loftily. 'Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone_ somewhere _who'll have you.'_**

 ** _But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light. 'Hermione, Neville's right – you_ are _a girl…'_**

' _ **Oh, well spotted,' she said acidly.**_

' _ **Well – you can come with one of us!'**_

' _ **No, I can't,' snapped Hermione.**_

' _ **Oh, come on,' he said impatiently, 'we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has…'**_

' _ **I can't come with you,' said Hermione, now blushing, 'because I'm already going with someone.'**_

' _ **No, you're not!' said Ron. 'You just said that to get rid of Neville!'**_

' ** _Oh,_ did _I?' said Hermione, and her eyes flashed dangerously. 'Just because it's taken_ you _three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one_ else _has spotted I'm a girl!'_**

 _ **Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.**_

' _ **OK, OK, we know you're a girl,' he said. 'That do? Will you come now?'**_

' _ **I've already told you!' Hermione said, very angrily. 'I'm going with someone else!'**_

 _ **And she stormed off towards the girls' dormitories again.**_

' _ **She's lying,' said Ron flatly, watching her go.**_

' _ **She's not,' said Ginny quietly.**_

' _ **Who is it, then?' said Ron sharply.**_

' _ **I'm not telling you, it's her business,' said Ginny.**_

' ** _Right,' said Ron, who looked extremely put out, 'this is getting stupid. Ginny,_ you _can go with Harry, and I'll just –'_**

He trailed off, but Ginny had frozen in place, her face rapidly changing to resemble a tomato. If he hadn't just been turned down himself, he probably wouldn't have picked up on it, but for once Harry saw the extremely awkward situation Ron had just put his sister in.

'I, er…' she stammered, and Harry could practically feel how mortified she was, like it was coming off her in waves. The memory of talking to Cho was still uncomfortably fresh, after all.

'Ron, don't be an idiot,' he said, trying to salvage things. 'Don't just say that. At least let me ask for myself.'

Ron looked struck, and Harry realized he'd probably been a bit harsh. 'Look, sorry mate,' he said. 'This whole thing is just getting to me, yeah?' He noticed Parvati and Lavender coming in through the portrait hole. 'Look, there's Parvati. I don't think she has a date yet, go ask her.'

'What about you?' Ron asked. 'You need a date more than I do.'

'I'll worry about that. I need to go talk to Ginny before she tries to drown herself.' She'd started sneaking away the moment Harry started speaking to Ron.

'What are you –'

'I'll tell you later, after you've asked Parvati to the ball,' Harry said, already leaving to catch Ginny before she escaped to her dormitory. Ron gaped after him, but whether he followed instructions Harry didn't know. He'd spotted Ginny heading up the staircase.

'Ginny, hold on a moment!' he called, trying not to be so loud as to draw the attention of the whole common room. She stopped, but didn't turn around. She didn't say anything either, but that wasn't new.

'Just come down, would you? I want to talk to you.'

'You don't have to take me to the ball just because Ron said so,' she said; even her voice was on the verge of tears.

'I know, that's what I told him, but the other way around is true too,' said Harry.

'The other…what does that even mean?' Ginny asked, turning around finally. She gave him a funny look, as though he were spouting nonsense. She neither looked like a radish nor about to cry at least, so he must have said something right.

'I mean _you_ don't have to go with _me_ just because he said so,' Harry said. 'You can go or not go with whomever you want.'

'Well, not really,' she said, coming back down the stairs so they didn't have to half-shout their entire conversation. 'I'm a third-year, remember? I can't go at all unless someone asks me.'

'Oh, right,' said Harry, having forgotten that part. Now he felt rather stupid himself. 'Well, don't worry about Ron, he's just being thick as usual. Not that I'm generally much better, mind.' Harry scratched his head nervously, not really sure where he was going with this anymore.

'I think it's universal among teenage boys,' Ginny said, smiling a bit. Harry couldn't help but laugh.

'Maybe,' he said. Then he got an idea. ' _Why not?'_ He thought. _'It's not like I could make things any worse anyway.'_

'Listen, Ginny,' he said. 'I'm really sorry about that. It was probably ten times more embarrassing for you than me.'

'It's all right,' she said. She wasn't lying very well, Harry thought.

'Well, aside from that, _would_ you want to go with me?' he asked. She certainly hadn't been expecting him to say that, if the look on her face was any indication. She was already blushing again and looked about ready to stammer and run way again too if he didn't act fast.

'This isn't Ron's idea, it's mine!' he clarified quickly. 'And I know it probably sounds bad – and you absolutely don't have to! – but I really do have to go with somebody, and I'd rather go with someone I know than just some random girl who wants to be a champion's date, you know?'

'You're actually asking me?' she said after a moment. 'Not just because I'm here and I'm a girl and you think I'll say yes?'

Was that what he was doing? Merlin, he was pantsing this up. 'I'm actually asking you, Ginny Weasley, to go to the Yule Ball with me,' he said finally, 'knowing that you could easily say no and I'll be back where I started.' He wasn't going to overtly mention her crush on him if she wasn't – he liked to think he wasn't _that_ thick.

He could see her thinking it over, and he wondered what he would do in her position – if Cho had been turned down by the boy she fancied but absolutely needed a date and asked him. He was pretty sure he'd say yes, but if Ginny had a bit more pride than he did, that might not mean anything.

'Okay,' she finally said. 'I'll go.'

'Brilliant,' said Harry, and actually meant it. Not only could he finally stop worrying about finding a date, but he'd found someone he didn't have to be nervous around. Not _too_ nervouse, anyway. Of course he was conscious that his date was likely to be nervous around _him_ , but that could be dealt with later. He had to admit he was also feeling pretty good about Ginny being able to go to the ball because of him, too. If he had to endure being a champion at a Yule Ball, at least he could do something nice for someone while he was at it.

He went back to where Ron was sitting. 'Did you ask her?' he said.

'Yeah,' said Ron, but he didn't sound very happy about it. 'I think she was hoping you would ask her, but I got her to say yes in the end. What was that about with Ginny? Is she going with you or not?'

'Yeah, we're going, but you kind of put her on the spot, you know.'

'What do you mean?' Ron asked. 'I'd have thought she'd jump at the chance to go with you.'

'I'm sure she would, if I'd actually asked her instead of her brother just deciding for us,' Harry said, giving Ron a wry look. 'I don't reckon fancying me is a good enough reason to want to be a last-resort obligation date.'

'Oh,' said Ron, looking slightly abashed. 'Guess I hadn't thought of that.'

'It's fine. She and I have established that teenage blokes are thick by nature,' Harry said, grinning.

'You know that includes you, right?' Ron jibed.

'Of course. Anyway, it's all taken care of now.'

'Wait, you said you two were going to the ball. You asked her after all?' said Ron. Harry nodded.

'I figured what's the harm? And I really did need a date. Besides, at this point I'd much rather go with her than some girl I don't even know. It's going to be hard enough having to dance in front of everybody as it is.'

'That makes sense, I guess,' Ron agreed. 'But this is on you now, Harry. I was just thinking she could go just so you'd have a date as a champion, but you actually asked her to go with you, so don't just take her and then ignore her or do something to hurt her feelings. She's still my baby sister after all and you know she's got a massive crush on you.'

'Ron, I think even first-year Slytherins know that,' said Harry. 'And you know I wouldn't do anything like that.'

'All the same, I have to be a big brother first and a best mate second,' said Ron.

'Fair enough.'

~O~

The first few days of the holidays went by quickly. Fred and George's product testing continued – generally on people who least expected it. Ron continued pestering Hermione about the identity of her date, thinking if he could catch her off-guard she'd let something slip, but she hadn't yet. One evening a letter arrived from Sirius, congratulating him for his performance in the first task and advising him to stay on his guard.

A noticeable difference over this period was Ginny. Harry was used to her being quiet and shy around him most of the time, and she'd never exactly gone out of her way to spend time around him, Ron and Hermione, but he saw almost nothing of her during the days leading up to Christmas.

'She's nervous, Harry,' Hermione told him one night when he mentioned it during a chess match with Ron. 'You know how she's always been about you.'

'It's not like he's asked her out or something,' Ron said, ordering his bishop to take out Harry's defenses.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Yes, she _knows_ that, Ron, but can't you see how this would be incredibly nerve-wracking for her? A formal ball is a little bit more than a date to Hogsmeade, say, regardless of the reason for it.'

'Maybe I shouldn't have asked her,' Harry said, feeling bad about it now. 'I mean, we never talk about it because I don't want her to be embarrassed, but she obviously fancies me. Was it selfish to ask her to come with me, you think?'

'No, Harry, it wasn't,' Hermione assured him, sighing. 'She's terribly excited, really – she's just terribly nervous as well.'

'Let her be, Harry,' Ron said sagely. 'Wouldn't want to psyche her out before the actual ball. Ginny's tough. When the actual time comes, she'll be all right.'

'Yes, I think she will,' agreed Hermione, giving Ron a somewhat appraising look.

'Checkmate,' Ron said.

~O~

Christmas morning brought a visit from Dobby and a new pair of outrageous mismatched socks, among other things, and a fabulous breakfast in the Great Hall. Lunch was even better, of course, and then Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys went out onto the grounds into the beautiful and almost untouched snowfall. Ginny was dragged outside by Fred and George practically kicking and screaming, but five minutes into the massive snowball fight that erupted you would have thought the whole thing was her idea. Observing her with Ron and the twins, Harry could only conclude that whatever competitive gene the Weasley family carried got stronger with each new member.

Eventually Hermione – who had elected merely to watch – announced she was going back inside to prepare for the ball.

'What, you need three hours?' said Ron incredulously, and was rewarded for his lapse in attention by a snowball upside the head courtesy of George.

'Wait, I'll come with you!' Ginny called, and threw her last snowball at Harry, who caught it, and she jogged to catch up to Hermione.

'We'll see you there!' Hermione waved, and the two girls headed back into the castle.

'Who are you going with?' Ron yelled, but they were already disappearing through the great oaken doors.

'So, Harry,' said Fred after the girls were gone. 'What's this we hear about you taking our ickle Gin-Gin to the Yule Ball?' Harry looked to see he and George sporting matching wicked grins.

'I hope you're not taking advantage of our little sister's naiveté,' said George.

'Oh, come off it,' said Ron, tossing a snowball at them that they easily dodged. 'You know Harry wouldn't do that. Besides, Ginny isn't exactly naïve, you know.'

'True enough,' said Fred. 'Truth is, we should probably be more worried about Harry than Ginny anyway.'

'Fair point,' said George. 'Watch yourself, Harry. You're probably the only person alive who's never seen Ginny in her element, so to speak. If you can get her to start talking around you, she might never stop.'

'I'll be careful,' Harry said wryly. 'Should I be expecting any canary creams from protective big brothers?'

'No more than usual,' said Fred, shrugging. They continued their snowball fight until it was too dark to see properly, and then went inside to prepare for the ball themselves.

Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville all changed into their dress robes, and Ron once again bemoaned the state of his. Even after severing all the lace, they still looked rather frayed and old-fashioned.

'I still can't work out how you two managed to get two of the best-looking girls in the year,' muttered Dean to Ron and Seamus as they went downstairs.

'Animal magnetism,' replied Ron gloomily, pulling stray threads out of his cuffs. Seamus just grinned.

The common room was oddly colorful, with everyone wearing their fancy dress robes. Parvati was waiting for Ron at the base of the stairs, alongside Lavender waiting for Seamus. They looked very pretty indeed, Parvati in robes of shocking pink with gold in her long dark plait and at her wrists, and Lavender in robes of her namesake shade with thin strands of sliver twisted into her honey-colored hair.

Standing a little further back was Ginny, nervously twisting her hands and biting her lip. She was wearing robes of a deep green that, when combined with her cascading and vibrant red hair, made her look very Christmas-y indeed.

'You look – really nice,' Harry said, a little awkwardly.

'Thanks,' she said. 'You too.'

'Shall we go?' asked Seamus, offering his arm to Lavender. Copying him, Harry did the same and Ginny took it rather tentatively, not meeting his eyes. Parvati looked like she was waiting for Ron to offer his arm as well, but instead he looked around and said, 'Where's Hermione?' Parvati shrugged, and took his arm of her own initiative.

'I'm sure we'll see her down there,' said Lavender. 'Let's go.' They made their way to the portrait hole, where Fred winked at Harry as he passed.

Dean and Neville split off to meet their dates, who were from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively. At one point Ron, who'd been looking around the crowd, turned quickly to avoid being seen by Fleur Delacour. Parvati was not amused, but Ron didn't seem to notice. 'Where _is_ Hermione?' he repeated, craning his neck over and around the crowd once again.

A group of Slytherins came by, including Malfoy (whose high-collared robes made him look like a vicar), Pansy Parkinson (who looked like a pink candyfloss cart had exploded on her), and Crabbe and Goyle (both dateless, Harry was delighted to see).

The Durmstrang procession appeared, led by Karkaroff and Krum, who was with a pretty girl in blue robes Harry didn't know. He could see through the doors to a section of the lawn that had been turned into a sort of rose garden or grotto filled with hundreds of glittering fairies fluttering around.

Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, 'Champions over here, please!'

Harry could feel Ginny tense up almost as much as him. They said, 'See you in a minute' to Ron and Parvati and walked over to meet McGonagall, who was dressed in red tartan dress robes and had made the odd choice of placing a wreath of thistles at the brim of her hat. She informed them that they were to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down.

 ** _Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies stationed themselves nearest the doors; Davies looked so stunned by his good fortune in having Fleur for a partner that he could hardly take his eyes off her. Cedric and Cho were close to Harry, too; he looked away from them so he wouldn't have to talk to them. His eyes fell instead on the girl next to Krum. His jaw dropped._**

 _ **It was Hermione.**_

 _ **But she didn't look like Hermione at all. She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy, but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and she was holding herself differently, somehow – or maybe it was merely the absence of the twenty or so books she usually had slung over her back. She was also smiling – rather nervously, it was true – but the reduction in the size of her front teeth was more noticeable than ever. Harry couldn't understand how he hadn't spotted it before.**_

'Hi, Harry!' she said. 'Hi, Ginny!'

Ginny was grinning happily, and Harry realized something.

'You knew who her date was all along,' he said simply.

'Of course I did,' she said. 'I told you it wasn't my business to say anything.'

'No, you're right,' he said. 'I was never really worried about that anyway. I'm just surprised Ron never thought to try needling it out of you.'

'He knows better,' she said. 'He'd have a better chance getting it out of Hermione herself or even Snape before he'd get it out of me.'

Ron chose that moment to walk past; he didn't look at Hermione at all.

'He doesn't look happy,' Harry noted.

'Does he ever?' Ginny said, quirking her eyebrow. Harry tried not to laugh at his best friend's expense – he really did – but he couldn't help it.

After everyone else was inside, the champions and their partners got in line in pairs behind Professor McGonagall and followed her in. The Great Hall had been filled with hundreds of small, round tables, and the champions walked toward where the staff table usually sat, where there was a large round table occupied by the judges. Harry was doing his best not to trip over his own feet; he could tell Ginny was just as on edge as he was, but she impressed him by not letting it show on her face. She was smiling as he imagined they were supposed to. He tried it himself but couldn't manage it.

They passed by Ron and Parvati near the head table. He was watching Hermione and Krum with narrowed eyes and something of a scowl; she was looking rather sulky.

At the judge's table, they were greeted varyingly, ranging from polite applause from Madame Maxime to boyish exuberance from Ludo Bagman to a scowl much like Ron's from Karkaroff – also directed at Hermione and Krum. Dumbledore, or course, was delighted to see all of them, but the big surprise was that instead of Mr. Crouch, the fifth judge's seat was occupied by Percy Weasley. He stood and pulled out the seat beside him, looking pointedly at Harry, who took the hint and sat next to him, himself pulling out a chair for Ginny on his left. If she felt like arguing about sitting next to Percy, she kept it to herself. Percy, for his part, was dressed quite smartly and looked very smug – even for Percy.

'I've been promoted,' he told them before Harry had even properly sat down. One might have thought he'd been made Supreme Ruler of the Universe. 'I'm now Mr Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him.' Harry shared a quick look with Ginny; they knew what they were in for.

'Why didn't he come?' Harry asked, not looking forward to being lectured on cauldron-bottom thickness all evening. Percy's long-winded response boiled down to Mr. Crouch being stressed and overworked, largely due to the fallout from the World Cup on top of arranging the tournament, Rita Skeeter being herself, and no longer having a house elf.

'I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place,' he finished proudly.

'Do you think Crouch has stopped calling him "Weatherby" yet?' Harry muttered to Ginny, who snorted with repressed laughter that she tried to hide behind her hand. Fortunately, Percy didn't notice.

There was no food on the table, just menus. There were no waiters either, but after observing Dumbledore merely speak his order at his plate, the others got the idea and followed suit. The house elves had certainly outdone themselves. Harry glanced over at Hermione to see what her reaction to this would be, but found she wasn't paying much attention to her food or how it arrived. She and Krum were deep in conversation about something and S.P.E.W. seemed the last thing on her mind.

'Seems like something has drawn Hermione's attention from house elves for the night,' Ginny said, having followed Harry's gaze.

'Wasn't sure it was possible,' said Harry. 'Has she got you in on it too?'

'She gave me a badge, but waived my dues since I didn't have any money on me,' Ginny explained.

'That was nice of her,' Harry grinned, and Ginny nodded.

'It was, especially since I was lying,' she said. 'I still wear the badge, though.'

'You're a better friend than me,' Harry admitted. 'I gave her the money but forgot about the badge.'

'Her heart's in the right place, but she really doesn't understand house elves,' Ginny said. 'I tried to explain it to her but she says that since I grew up with it I just can't see the injustice.'

'Ron got the same,' Harry said.

'Yes, well Ron probably had the tact of a wild ape when explaining it, I'd wager.'

'Fair point.'

On the other end of the table, Krum had apparently been telling Hermione about Durmstrang, but Karkaroff interrupted jovially – though with somewhat cold eyes, Harry noted – telling Krum not to spill the school's secrets. This somehow led to Dumbledore telling a story about a mysterious room full of chamber pots that perhaps only appeared at a certain time or when the one seeking it was in desperate need of a bathroom. Ginny and Harry both laughed, Harry nearly choking on his goulash.

Fleur Delacour, meanwhile, was busy comparing Hogwarts very unfavorably to Beauxbatons for Roger Davies, who looked like he was taking in about every fifth word she was saying and kept missing his mouth with his fork due to staring at her.

'Poor Ron,' said Ginny. 'If I didn't believe you that she was part Veela before, I certainly do now. Davies looks about a half second away from outright drooling.'

'I wonder if she has a limited range,' said Harry, the idea striking him out of nowhere. 'Those veela at the World Cup affected us way up in the top box, but she's just down the table and I don't feel anything strange.'

'It would make sense, I suppose,' said Ginny. 'I mean, she's not even half veela, is she? Whatever power she has can't be as strong as a full-blooded one.'

'Her-my-oh-nee,' they heard Hermione enunciating to Krum, who was apparently having difficulty pronouncing her name.

'Herm-own-ninny,' tried Krum.

'Close enough,' she said, glancing over at Harry and Ginny and grinning.

The rest of dinner carried on like that. They would catch snippets of other people's conversations or be briefly drawn in, but it never ceased to be entertaining. Harry made a point of not looking at or speaking to Cho and Cedric unless he absolutely had to. He found it wasn't nearly as hard as he'd feared it would be, simply by virtue of having someone to talk to.

And Ginny sure could talk. Her brothers hadn't been kidding about that. Harry had never seen this side of her before, and was somewhat surprised to learn how much he enjoyed it. It was certainly preferable to the shy, quiet version he was used to. Most surprising though, was how much _fun_ she was to talk to. She shared his sense of humor and wit, and had touches of both Ron's bluntness and Hermione's insight that made for a very interesting combination. He could make observations about people around them and unlike Hermione, who would usually chastise him for it or Ron, who could occasionally turn it rather mean or sour without even meaning to, she would laugh or come back with one of her own.

When dinner was over, Dumbledore stood and motioned for everyone to do the same. With a wave of his wand he cleared the tables from the floor and conjured a dais with instruments on it. The Weird Sisters came out to raucous applause. Ginny was among those most enthusiastic, Harry noted.

'I've never heard them before,' Harry told her, watching the band with interest.

'Really?' she asked him, in the same manner as though he'd just announced he'd never had tea before. Then she noticed something over his shoulder and tensed up, the color draining from her face a little and her smile drooping. 'Er, I think we're supposed to…' she trailed off, but Harry turned and noticed the other champions taking to the dance floor with their partners. With a surge of anxiety, Harry realized what they were supposed to be doing.

Harry offered her his hand and she took it, not meeting his eye. He understood the feeling; he was careful not to catch anyone else's eye as they walked out, though he thought he could see Seamus and Dean waving and sniggering from the corner of his vision.

'I, er, don't really know how to dance,' Harry confessed under his breath.

'Mum taught me a little,' she breathed so quietly he barely heard her, but she placed his hand on her waist and took the other one in hers. She was blushing furiously and mostly looking at the floor, and Harry realized this had to be ten times worse for her than it was for him. At least he was used to being in front of a lot of people, and he wasn't the one on a date with his crush, either.

It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Ginny did seem to have some handle on what to do, so he let her steer. They might have looked a bit clumsy, but soon enough the dance floor was so full of other couples that no one was paying them any attention anymore. Looking around, he could see a number of the teachers had joined the dance as well; Dumbledore was dancing with Madame Maxime – it looked rather like a girl play dancing with an overlarge doll – and Mad-Eye Moody came by doing a very ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was keeping one eye on his wooden leg at all times.

'Nice socks, Potter,' he growled as he passed.

'Oh – yeah, Dobby the house-elf knitted them for me,' said Harry, grinning.

'A house-elf made you socks?' Ginny asked as they spun away. Harry started. She hadn't spoken since they'd begun dancing.

'Yeah,' he chuckled, glad for the ice-breaker. 'You remember Dobby, right?'

'He's the elf who almost killed you trying to save your life?' Ginny asked.

'That's the one. Hermione found out he works in the kitchen here and he came by to see me this morning to give me a Christmas present.'

'That's so sweet!' Ginny squealed. 'He must really like you. Hopefully not enough to try and save you again, though.'

Harry laughed. 'I made him promise not to. But he grows on you, Dobby.'

'Can I see them?' Ginny asked, indicating his socks.

'Sure,' said Harry. 'Let's go sit down. I don't think I could keep up with this one anyway.'

'Me neither,' said Ginny. The Weird Sisters had started another, much faster song, which seemed to be a favorite of many. On their way to the table where Ron and Parvati were seated, they had to literally dodge out of the way of Fred and Angelina, who were dancing so exuberantly one might have thought they'd been jinxed.

'How's it going?' Harry asked Ron, opening a Butterbeer and passing one to Ginny as they sat down.

Ron didn't answer. He was glaring at Hermione and Krum, who were dancing nearby. Parvati was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, one foot jiggling in time to the music. Every now and then she threw a disgruntled look at Ron, who was completely ignoring her.

'So show me your socks,' said Ginny, taking a swig of Butterbeer.

'What about Harry's socks?' Parvati asked, clearly keen to at least have someone to talk to.

'Oh, for Merlin's sake. I may as well just put them on display at the head table and have done with it,' Harry joked good naturedly. Ginny explained to Parvati the origin of the socks while Harry lifted his robes enough to show them off.

'Brilliant!' cried Ginny, grinning madly.

'They're adorable!' Parvati cooed. 'He made them for you?'

'Dobby's big on socks,' Harry explained. 'It's how I freed him.'

They spent the next few minutes discussing Dobby and other memories from the last few years. Ron was tuning them out completely. Before long a boy from Beauxbatons came and asked Parvati to dance.

'Were you planning on asking me to dance at all?' she asked Ron, who did not respond. 'Oh, never mind,' she snapped. 'See you later Harry, Ginny.' She went off with the Beauxbatons boy, and when the song ended she did not come back.

Hermione came over and sat down in Parvati's empty chair. She was a bit pink in the face from dancing.

'Hi,' said Harry. Ron didn't say anything. Ginny smiled at Hermione and watched her brother anxiously.

'It's hot, isn't it?' said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. 'Viktor's just gone to get some drinks.'

Ron gave her a withering look.

' _Viktor?'_ he snarled. 'Hasn't he asked you to call him _Vicky_ yet?'

Hermione looked at him in surprise and Ginny grimaced.

'What's up with you?' she said.

'If you don't know,' said Ron scathingly, 'I'm not going to tell you.'

Hermione stared at him, then at Harry, who shrugged, and Ginny, who gave a sympathetic wince. 'Ron, what – ?'

'He's from Durmstrang!' spat Ron. 'He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You – you're – 'Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime, 'fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing!'

Hermione's mouth fell open. What followed was a truly spectacular shouting match during which Ron accused Krum of using Hermione to spy on Harry, and when that didn't work, of using her to help solve his egg clue. Hermione, for her part, was shooting down everything he threw at her, though she inevitably ended up trying to bring Harry into it despite him silently praying she would not.

People were starting to stare at opened his mouth to tell Ron that he didn't have a problem with Hermione coming to the ball with Krum, but he felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Ginny giving him a warning look and shaking her head almost imperceptibly. She then indicated with her eyes that they should escape while they still could. One glance at his two red-faced best friends told Harry that she probably had the right idea.

' _Don't call him Vicky!'_ they heard Hermione shriek as they surreptitiously abandoned the shouting pair and made their way around the edge of the dance hall.

'Well that was terrifying,' Ginny said once they were far enough away. 'Are they always like that?'

'Generally not that bad,' Harry said. 'I feel kind of bad leaving, though. Ron's going to be on his own as soon as Krum gets back from wherever he went.'

'Oh please, he's been on his own all night,' said Ginny, rolling her eyes. Harry caught a glimpse of Cedric and Cho and realized he could easily have been just as bad as Ron tonight under different circumstances. Still, he didn't feel like being anywhere where he could see them.

'Feel like taking a walk?' he asked abruptly, indicating the door to the Entrance Hall. 'I could use some air after that.'

'Um…sure,' Ginny stammered, blushing. Too late, Harry realized he'd taken her hand to help her up from the table and had forgotten to let go. He quickly released it, then figured that could be construed wrongly as well.

'Er, sorry,' he said lamely. 'This isn't … I'm not very good at this sort of thing.'

'No, that's – that's okay,' she said. 'I know I'm not who you wanted to come with tonight.' She looked back down at her shoes, and Harry felt like a slug.

'It's not like that,' Harry tried to say. 'I mean – bollocks, there's not really anything I can say that will help, is there? What I mean is, I didn't ask you just because I needed a date. I could have just asked Parvati myself if I'd wanted that instead of telling Ron to do it. I asked you because if I had to be here, I figured I could at least come with someone I knew I could have a good time with.'

'You said that before,' she reminded him without looking up.

'Well, it's still true,' he said, taking both her hands and forcing her to look up at him. 'I know it's not what you wanted either, but let's make the best of what we have, yeah?' It was the closest either of them had yet come to openly discussing her feelings for him.

'All right,' she said, managing a faint smile. In her Christmasy attire, and backlit from the glow of the fairy lights outside, it made her look incredibly pretty. Best not to think about that.

They headed outside into the impromptu rose garden. There were statues and winding paths, and Harry was sure he could hear a fountain somewhere. There were a few people about on carved benches, but it seemed most everyone was still inside. They'd gone a short way when they heard a familiar and unpleasant voice.

'We have had to live with it these past thirteen years; I don't see what there is to fuss about, Igor.'

'Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening!' Karkaroff's voice sounded anxious and hushed, as though keen not to be overheard. 'It's been getting clearer and clearer for months, I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it –'

'Then flee,' said Snape's voice curtly. 'Flee, I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts.'

The two men came around the corner. Snape was blasting bushes apart with his wand and looking most displeased. Squeals erupted and figures emerged from several of them.

'Ten points from Hufflepuff, Fawcett!' he yelled at a girl who ran past him. 'And ten points from Ravenclaw too, Stebbins!' at the boy who ran after her. 'Potter!' he snarled at catching sight of Harry and Ginny. 'Not your usual Weasley, I see. Need I deduct points from you two as well?'

Harry fumed at the implication, but Ginny calmly replied, 'No, professor, we were just walking.'

'Keep walking, then!' Snape snarled and brushed past them, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. Karkaroff hurried after him. Ginny smiled politely until they were past, at which point she pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at them.

'Nice,' Harry said.

'What was that about, I wonder?' said Ginny. 'Professor Karkaroff sounded really upset about something.'

'Yeah. And since when are he and Snape on first-name terms?' said Harry slowly. He was about to suggest they head back inside when he noticed two more people headed in their direction. Fleur and Davies did not notice he and Ginny – they were otherwise occupied.

'Looks like she's found at least one part of Hogwarts she doesn't mind so much,' Ginny noted wryly.

Harry chuckled. 'Shall we, er, take the long way round?' he suggested.

'Thanks,' said Ginny. 'That was a very nice dinner. I'd hate to lose it so soon.'

They laughed and started walking down the path away from Davies and Fleur. Soon they came upon a stone reindeer, beyond which was a glittering fountain and the silhouettes of two very large people seated on a bench.

'…knew you were like me … was it your mother or your father?' Hagrid was saying. Harry instinctively felt this wasn't a conversation they should be listening in on, so he quickened his step. Unfortunately, just past the reindeer was a dead end, the only ways out being back the way they came, or around the fountain and right past Hagrid and Madame Maxime and what was their private conversation.

'What do we do?' Ginny asked.

'We could just wait until they go,' Harry suggested lamely. It was generally his instinct in situations like this.

'Who knows how long that will be?' she said, 'and if they notice us it'll look like we were eavesdropping!'

'Okay okay, you're right,' Harry said. 'Let's just go back the way we came and try not to hear anything.' Ginny nodded her agreement and they set off at a brisk pace. Harry tried to keep his focus on something other than one of his dearest friends in what should most assuredly be a private moment. He cast around but there wasn't really anything to look at besides the reindeer. He noticed a beetle crawling around on its back and tried to concentrate on that until they were far enough away not to overhear, but alas it was not to be.

'Don't go!' Hagrid was saying, a bit louder now. 'I've – I've never met another one before!'

'Anuzzer _what_ , precisely?' said Madame Maxime icily. Whatever it was, Harry mentally pleaded with Hagrid not to answer, knowing it would be a bad idea, but of course Hagrid couldn't hear him.

'Another half-giant, o'course!' said Hagrid. Ginny froze beside him and Harry was almost tripped up by their linked arms. He had no time to wonder when that had happened.

''Ow dare you!' shrieked Madame Maxime. Her voice was like a foghorn in the otherwise quiet and peaceful night. Behind them, Fleur and Davies tumbled out of their bush, and Ginny pulled Harry down out of sight into the shadow of the reindeer. 'I 'ave nevair been more insulted in my life! 'Alf-giant? Moi? I 'ave – I 'ave big bones!'

She stormed off, great swarms of fairies bursting into the air like quail as she practically tossed rose bushes out of her way. Hagrid remained sitting on the bench for almost another minute, until he too got up and walked away, only toward his cabin instead of the castle.

'Did you know?' Ginny whispered once he was gone.

'Know what?' Harry asked, not really processing yet what had just transpired.

'That Hagrid is half-giant?'

'No, I didn't know,' Harry said. 'I suppose it makes sense, though. So what?'

Harry knew immediately from Ginny's expression that he was once again exhibiting his ignorance of the wizarding world. It was something that had been happening less and less frequently the more time he spent in it, but he evidently still had things to learn. Foremost among them, it would seem, was that 'so what?' was not a typical response upon learning that one's friend is half-giant.

'Let's go inside,' Ginny said. 'Ron can probably explain better than I can.' She pulled him up and they made a beeline for the front doors. Reentering the Great Hall, a quick survey revealed that Parvati was sitting at a table with her twin sister and a large group of boys from Beauxbatons, Hermione was back on the dance floor with Krum, and Ron was still seated at the same table they'd left him, still wearing the same expression he'd worn most of the night. They strode over to him, taking a pair of empty seats. They needn't worry about being overheard; no one else was sitting anywhere near them.

'Where have you two been?' Ron snapped. Harry pushed down the urge to be irritated with him.

'Went out for some air, figured we'd give you two your space,' he said.

Ron just grunted. Then he said, 'I had to endure ten minutes of Percy, I'll have you know. Only just got rid of him.'

'All right, now I actually do feel bad,' Ginny said soothingly, though Harry saw she was holding back an amused grin.

'Never mind that now, we need to tell you something,' Harry said, and he and Ginny relayed what they had overheard. At the end Ron had completely lost his surly demeanor and was merely left gaping.

'So?' Harry prompted. 'What's the problem with giants?'

'Well, they're … they're …'Ron struggled for words, 'not very nice,' he finished lamely.

Ginny rolled her eyes, 'I knew you'd be the best one to explain it,' she said sarcastically.

' _ **Who cares?' Harry said. 'There's nothing wrong with Hagrid!'**_

' _ **I know there isn't,' said Ron, 'but … blimey, no wonder he keeps it quiet.' He shook his head. 'I always thought he'd got in the way of a bad Engorgement Charm when he was a kid or something. Didn't like to mention it …'**_

' _ **But what's it matter if his mother was a giantess?' Harry pressed.**_

' _ **Well … no one who knows him will care, 'cos they'll know he's not dangerous,' said Ron, slowly. 'But … Harry, they're just vicious, giants. It's not their fault or anything; it's just in their natures; they're like trolls … they just like killing, everyone knows that. There aren't any left in Britain now, though.'**_

' _ **What happened to them?'**_

' _ **Well, they were dying out anyway, and then loads got themselves killed by Aurors. There're supposed to be giants abroad, though … they hide out in mountains, mostly …'**_

' _ **I don't know who Maxime thinks she's kidding,' Harry said, watching the Beauxbatons headmistress sitting alone at the judges' table. 'If Hagrid's half-giant, she definitely is. Big bones … the only thing that's got bigger bones than her is a dinosaur.'**_

The three of them stayed at the table for most of the rest of the evening, discussing giants, and what it might mean for Hagrid if anyone found out about his parentage. They all agreed that Dumbledore was almost certainly aware of it, and probably the rest of the staff, but parents would be a bigger problem – particularly ones like Lucius Malfoy. At one point, a fourth-year Ravenclaw whose name Harry thought was Michael came over and asked Ginny to dance, but she politely declined. It made Harry feel slightly guilty.

'Sorry,' he said while Ron was making a trip to the toilet. 'You're probably not having a lot of fun.'

'No, I am!' she insisted. 'I never get to scheme with you three.'

'We don't scheme …' Harry said somewhat defensively.

'Of course you don't,' Ginny said, rather patronizingly. 'But anyway, I am having fun, I promise.'

'Still, if you wanted to dance with that bloke you could have,' Harry said.

'I didn't, though,' she said simply. Harry was bad at reading people, so he wasn't sure if he picked up a touch of hurt in her last statement or not.

'We should do one more, then,' he said spur-of-the-moment. 'They're almost done, I think. The ball ends at midnight, right? Do you want to?'

Ginny blushed and looked at her shoes – but only for a moment. 'All right,' she said. They stood up and went back out to the dance floor. It was indeed the last song, and they spent most of it laughing about what horrible dancers they both were. When they came back to the table Ron greeted them with a raised eyebrow but nothing more.

Out in the Entrance Hall, Hermione was saying goodnight to Krum before he headed back out to the Durmstrang ship. She saw Ron and gave him a very cold look before striding right past him up the marble staircase without a word. Harry inwardly groaned. Ron had been nearly snapped out of his bad mood.

Halfway up the staircase themselves, Harry heard someone calling his name.

'Hey – Harry!'

It was Cedric Diggory. Harry could see Cho waiting for him at the base of the stairs. He inwardly groaned again. His own bad mood had been done away with as well until now.

'Yeah?' said Harry cooly as Cedric ran up to meet him. Cedric glanced at Ron and Ginny, as though he didn't want to say anything in front of them. Ron shrugged and continued up the stairs looking very bad-tempered. Ginny shared a quick defeated look with Harry before following.

' _ **Listen …' Cedric lowered his voice. 'I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that golden egg? Does yours wail when you open it?'**_

' _ **Yeah,' said Harry.**_

' _ **Well … take a bath, OK?'**_

' _ **What?'**_

' _ **Take a bath, and – er – take the egg with you, and – er – just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think … trust me.'**_

 _ **Harry stared at him.**_

' _ **Tell you what,' Cedric said, 'use the Prefects' bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's Pine-fresh. Gotta go … want to say goodnight – '**_

 _ **He grinned at Harry again and hurried back down the stairs to Cho.**_

Harry started walking up the stairs again, very confused. That had been very strange advice. At the first landing he found Ginny waiting for him.

'Where's Ron?' he asked.

'Probably stomping all the way up to Gryffindor tower,' she said, a distinct lack of patience for her brother's behavior evident in her tone. 'What did Cedric want?'

'What? Oh, he – er – he wanted to give me advice about my egg,' Harry said, not entirely sure why he was telling her. After all, he wasn't sure what Cedric had done was allowed.

'What, really?' Ginny asked as they started once again for the common room. 'Why would he do that?'

'He says he's paying me back for helping him with the first task.'

'How did you help him?' asked Ginny, clearly lost.

'I sort of told him about the dragons,' Harry said, but then hastily added, 'but only because I knew that Krum and Fleur both knew about them, and it didn't seem right for Cedric to be the only one going in blind, you know?'

Ginny stared at him for a moment with her mouth slightly agape, then smiled and shook her head. 'You really are …' she murmured under her breath. What he really was, he did not find out, because she snapped back to their earlier conversation. 'I'm not even going to ask how _you_ found out about the dragons,' she said. 'Or how you knew that Krum and Fleur knew, or how _they_ found out. I'm sure I'd just end up with more questions anyway.'

'I probably shouldn't have said anything at all,' Harry admitted. 'I'm pretty sure more people than me would get in trouble.'

'Don't worry, I won't tell anyone,' she said.

'I know you won't.'

She beamed at him. 'So what was Cedric's hint, if I can ask?'

'He said to take a bath with the egg,' Harry told her. 'What kind of rubbish advice is that? You reckon he's pulling my leg?'

Ginny considered it, then shook her head. 'I don't think he's the sort who would do that. _Don't_ even say anything,' she cut him off before he could speak, for he had already been opening his mouth. 'I know you don't exactly like him right now because he went to the ball with Cho Chang, but that doesn't make him a bad person, you know.'

Harry stammered a moment, trying to protest, but he knew she was right. The smug look on her face showed she knew it, too. 'Honestly, you're as bad as Ron,' she said. 'Well, maybe not. At least you _tried_ to have fun tonight.'

'I did have fun,' Harry said quickly, not wanting her to think he had not. As soon as he said it he was shocked to realize how true it was, especially given how much he had been dreading the whole ordeal beforehand.

'If you say so,' she said.

'Hey, don't be like that,' Harry false-whinged. 'I believed _you._ I really did have fun tonight. Lots more than I thought I would. You don't see me stomping all the way up to the tower, do you?'

'Fair enough,' she said as they arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait. 'And Harry?'

'Hmm?'

'Thanks for inviting me. Really. I had a great time.' There was a brief pause during which she seemed to be steeling herself for something, but before Harry had time to process what that might be she'd taken a deep breath and hugged him tightly. She let go almost before he got a chance to hug back, her face once more redder than her hair. Immediately she turned away.

'Fairy lights!' she yelled sharply, for the Fat Lady had been snoozing with her friend Vi over the portrait hole. She climbed in ahead of him, and Harry was expecting to see her halfway up the stairs to her dormitory when he followed seconds later, which is why he was surprised to see her standing stock still just inside. The reason why was immediately apparent: they'd walked in on Hermione and Ron in the middle of a blazing row. They were each scarlet in the face, bellowing at each other from ten feet apart.

' _ **Well if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?' yelled Hermione; her hair was coming down out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in anger.**_

' _ **Oh yeah?' Ron yelled back. 'What's that?'**_

' _ **Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!'**_

 _ **Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase to bed. Ron turned to look at Harry**_ (Ginny had begun sidestepping out of the way and towards the staircases herself).

'Well, he spluttered, looking thunderstruck, 'well – that just proves – completely missed the point –'

Harry caught Ginny's eye at the base of the stairs but didn't say anything. He could tell she was thinking the same as him, though. He liked being back on speaking terms with Ron too much to speak his mind just then – but he somehow thought that Hermione had gotten the point much better than Ron had.

~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~

It feels good to finish something again, even if it is actally _starting_ yet another thing. This isn't my best work, but it's something, and I'm feeling good about that. Let me know what you think. The next couple of chapters of this are mostly done already, as are a few other unrelated things.


	2. Chapter 2

I hesitate to post another chapter so quickly, since even when I'm on top of my game I don't update this fast, but it's done, and there's more stuff I'm working on, so there doesn't really seem to be any reason not to.

As usual, I own nothing. The few short borrowed passages from the original text are again indicated by bolded italics.

~O~O~O~

Boxing Day was a slow, quiet morning. There were a lot of people evidently still worn out from the ball the night before. Hermione (whose hair was bushy once again) and Ron seemed to have wordlessly agreed to pretend their argument had never happened, and were being perfectly friendly to one another, if a bit formal.

Ginny was also more or less back to her usual self, but Harry much preferred her typical bashfulness to the outright silent avoidance she'd resorted to in the days leading up to the ball. He made it a point to speak with her whenever possible, in an attempt to coax her out of her shyness, for he had rather enjoyed their conversations during dinner and afterwards. He found that while she would generally be timid at first, if he could get her talking about something, she quickly forgot to be nervous and would open right up until something happened to remind her whom she was talking to, at which point she'd flush red and mutter an excuse to go somewhere else and they'd start again. Harry considered this progress.

Hermione hadn't seemed at all surprised to learn of Hagrid's ancestry, and agreed with Harry that there didn't seem to be anything to be concerned about. When she dismissed Ron's explanation of peoples' fear of giants as simple bigotry, he (wisely, Harry felt) did not argue, though it was plain he would have liked to.

When classes started up again, it occurred to Harry just how little time he had left to work out his Triwizard clue. The twenty-fourth of February seemed a lot closer from this side of Christmas, and he hadn't gotten anywhere on the wailing golden egg, despite forcing himself to listen to it at every opportunity.

The downside of his new friendship with Ginny showed itself shortly after term began. Harry had not forgotten Cedric's cryptic clue about taking a bath with his egg, but his current less-than-friendly feelings toward the Hufflepuff left him disinclined to accept any help from the older student if he could avoid it. The problem was, Ginny hadn't forgotten about the hint either, and every time she heard him tell a well-meaning but pestering Hermione that he was coming along well on the clue, she would ambush him and ask him if he'd followed Cedric's advice yet.

'I really don't want to,' Harry finally said outright one morning when Ginny had accosted him in a corner of the common room yet again. 'There, I admit it. I don't want help from Cedric. Happy?'

'Not really,' she said baldly, 'since I already knew that.'

'Right, of course you did,' said Harry, remembering her ribbing him about it the night of. 'And anyway, I've still got time. What do I need with a rubbish hint like that anyway? I told him about the dragons outright; if he's going to return the favor, he could at least be thorough about it.'

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'You're going out of your way to avoid his hint, you know. If he hadn't said anything, you might have even worked it out for yourself by now, but you're not letting yourself even think about what's probably the right answer because you don't like who told it to you.'

Harry stared at her, blinking. When had she gotten so smart?

'I always was, you just never noticed,' she said with a cocky grin when he voiced his thoughts.

'Yeah, well, whose fault was that?' he teased; he couldn't help himself. She blushed and looked away, reverting to the soft tones Ron had once referred to as her 'talking to Harry voice.'

'Go take a bath with your egg,' she said, and quickly scampered off. He felt a little bad for teasing her, but she'd sent him reeling with her blunt assessment of his situation. To make it up to her, he resolved to shelve his pride and see whether Cedric's hint was worth anything. After all, if it wasn't, he wouldn't be any worse off than he already was.

Bath time would have to wait until that evening, however. He had a Care of Magical Creatures lesson to get through, and with the amount of snow that had piled up on the grounds, nobody was looking forward to it.

They received a surprise upon reaching Hagrid's cabin, however. Instead of their friend, an elderly witch with close-cropped grey hair was waiting for them. She introduced herself as Professor Grubbly-Plank and deflected all questions regarding Hagrid's location or why they needed a temporary professor. What followed was a (remarkably enjoyable and interesting, Harry had to grudgingly admit) lesson on unicorns, which Lavender and Parvati – indeed many of the Slytherin girls as well – seemed to think was the greatest thing they'd ever experienced.

What made the lesson memorable for Harry and Ron, however (they'd had to hang back, as unicorns were more trusting around girls) was when Malfoy shoved a newspaper under their noses with an article detailing Hagrid's lineage and all sorts of information about his giantess mother. Malfoy and his cronies seemed to think the whole thing very amusing, but Harry couldn't decide between his fury over the whole thing (including some rather nasty quotes from Malfoy in the article itself) and bewilderment over how Rita Skeeter, the author, had gotten this information.

After the lesson, Parvati and Lavender seemed quite keen on the idea of Professor Grubbly-Plank staying on. They seemed to think Hagrid retaining his gamekeeper duties should have been consolation enough for him. This did not help Harry's mood.

' _ **That was a really good lesson,' said Hermione, as they entered the Great Hall. 'I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni–'**_

' _ **Look at this!' Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under Hermione's nose.**_

 _ **Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as Ron's** had been. **'How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told** **her?'**_

' _ **No,' said Harry, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself into a chair, furious. 'He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me, she went ferreting around to get back at him.'**_

' _ **Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball,' said Hermione quietly.**_

'Ginny and I would have seen her in the garden,' Harry pointed out.

' _ **Anyway,'**_ said Ron, _**'she's not supposed to come into school any more, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her …'**_

' _ **Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak,' Said Harry, ladling chicken casserole onto his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. 'Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it, hide in bushes listening to people.'**_

'Like you and Ginny did, you mean,' said Hermione.

'We weren't trying to hear them!' said Harry indignantly. 'We were trying _not_ to!'

Ron shook his head irritably. 'The stupid git, talking about his giantess mother where anyone could have heard him.'

At that moment Ginny came up, holding her own copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

'Did you see?' she asked frantically, waving the paper about. Harry off-handedly held up the copy they'd been discussing, and Ginny's face contorted in fury. 'That cow! I can't believe her! How could she do something like this to Hagrid? And how did she even find out? I didn't see her anywhere near that garden; there's no way she could have overheard.'

'We were just wondering about that,' Ron said. 'Harry reckons she might have an invisibility cloak.'

'Ooh, that _does_ sound like the sort of underhanded thing she would do,' said Ginny. 'She can't have known he was going to say anything worth hearing, though. Why would she have been there?'

'That's a good point,' Harry said, not having even thought of that. 'I'd thought maybe she was trying to get back at him for not dishing the dirt on me, but maybe it was actually me she was following and she just happened to overhear Hagrid same as we did.'

'That's unsettling,' said Hermione. 'I don't like the idea of someone following you around, Harry. _Especially_ not that vile Skeeter woman.'

'You should start checking the map every once in a while just to make sure she's not hovering over you,' said Ron absently, shoving some chips into his mouth. Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry very nearly slapped his forehead.

'Map? What map?' Ginny asked, looking between the three of them. Ron had frozen with another chip halfway to his mouth.

'Whoops.'

'What?' Ginny asked again, confusion and curiosity warring for dominance on her face.

Harry sighed. 'I suppose it's not that big a secret,' he said, more for Ron's benefit than anything. Really, he didn't have a problem with Ginny knowing about the map per se, it was just the principle of the thing; it wasn't the sort of thing one just casually blabbed about in front of anyone. 'It's a map of the school that shows where people are,' he said in an undertone. 'We can talk about it later when there aren't so many people around.'

'Oh!' said Ginny. 'Okay.' It seemed to take her off guard that she was being let in the loop so easily.

'In the meantime, what are we going to do about Hagrid?' said Ron, clearly keen to shift the subject.

' _ **We've got to go and see him,' said Harry. 'This evening, after Divination. Tell him we want him back … You do want him back?'**_ _ **he shot at Hermione.**_

' _ **I – well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once – but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!' Hermione added hastily, quailing under**_ furious stares from both Harry and Ginny.

After dinner that evening, the four of them trooped down across the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. They banged on the door, but only Fang's echoing barks answered them.

'Hagrid, it's us!' Harry shouted, pounding on the door. 'Open up!'

There was still no answer. They could hear Fang whining and scratching around, but no sign of Hagrid. They took turns hammering on the door for ten minutes – Ron even rapped on one of the windows, and the girls went around to knock on the back door, but there was still no response.

'What's he avoiding us for?' Hermione said, when they had finally given up, and were walking back to the school. 'He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?'

Ron glanced at his sister out of the corner of his eye. 'You don't reckon it's because Ginny was with us, do you?' he said. 'I mean, he doesn't know her as well as he knows us …'

'Excuse me,' Ginny spat, 'I come and visit him too, you know. And I happen to actually _like_ his lessons, which is more than I can say for some people.'

Ron and Hermione looked away guiltily. Harry felt it too, for he'd more than once thought that spending time with Hagrid was the only part of Care of Magical Creatures that was worth anything. There was something else she said, too…

'I didn't know that,' he said. 'That you came to visit him, I mean.'

Ginny blushed, and Harry understood why a moment later. 'It started in my first year,' she said. 'I came down hoping to run into you lot, but he was really nice and offered me tea and listened to me whinge. It was kind of a lonely year.' She didn't have to say why; Tom Riddle's diary wasn't something any of them were likely to forget any time soon.

'Good old Hagrid,' said Ron fondly. 'Always there when you need him.'

As it turned out, however, Hagrid had no desire to see them or anyone else. They saw nothing of him for the next week, and Professor Grubbly-Plank continued teaching his lessons, which Malfoy was never slow to comment on with a malicious smirk on his face.

Harry had other problems to deal with, too. The shock of Rita Skeeter's article and how Hagrid was taking it had momentarily driven the egg out of his mind, as well as his decision to try out Cedric's advice. It was a few days later when he remembered. He arranged for Ron to open the portrait for him as Hermione had before, and slipped out under his invisibility cloak with the Marauder's Map, headed for the prefects' bathroom.

'Good luck,' whispered Ron as he passed. Though he had not mentioned exactly what he was going to be doing, Ron had guessed it had something to do with his Triwizard clue.

Moving through the corridors with the egg under his arm proved awkward, but there was sufficient moonlight to avoid tripping over anything, and by checking the map periodically, he managed to avoid running into anyone he'd rather avoid – which at this hour was just about everybody. On impulse, he scanned the map for Rita Skeeter as Ron had suggested the other day, but saw nothing. Evidently she wasn't prowling around for a story this night at least.

The prefects' bathroom was a marvel to behold, and Harry thought it might be worth being made a prefect just for the chance to use it. After playing with the myriad magical taps and doing a few lengths up and down the pool-sized bath, he decided it was time to get down to business. The only problem was he didn't really have any idea where to go from here. He fumed for a moment, once again irritated at how useless Cedric's advice had been, when a voice startled him so much he nearly choked on a mouthful of bathwater.

'I'd try putting it _in_ the water if I were you,' the voice said. Harry looked around and saw the ghost Moaning Myrtle floating in the middle of the great chamber, a few feet above the water. Harry flailed about in shock, but once it wore off he was a bit hacked off at being spied on. It took a minute or two, but once he and Myrtle had both calmed down, she told him how Cedric had submerged the egg and listened to it underwater. Harry tried it, and was more than a little surprised to hear singing.

 **' _Come seek us where our voices sound,_**

 ** _We cannot sing above the ground,_**

 ** _And while you're searching, ponder this:_**

 ** _We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_**

 ** _An hour long you'll have to look,_**

 ** _And to recover what we took,_**

 ** _But past an hour – the prospect's black_**

 ** _Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.'_**

It took listening a few times, and bouncing a few ideas off Myrtle, but eventually Harry determined that the second task was to retrieve something from the lake taken by merpeople. There was only one problem with that, which he was quick to spot.

'Myrtle,' he said slowly, 'how am I supposed to _breathe_?'

This was the wrong thing to say. Myrtle considered talking of breathing to be horribly tactless, and she began wailing on about her death once again. Once she finally calmed a second time, Harry thanked her for her help and told her he would try to visit her more in the future, though he privately thought it would take every other toilet in the castle backing up at once to get him back into her bathroom.

The prospect of spending an hour under the lake was daunting, but at least he now knew what he had to do, and could work toward a definite objective. Ginny had been right; following Cedric's hint had turned out to be a good idea after all, loathe as he was to admit it. At least they were even now, and could just compete normally for the rest of the tournament.

Checking the map before exiting the bathroom, Harry found that most people were in bed as they should be. Peeves was bouncing around the Charms corridor, but that wasn't anywhere near the path he would need to take. He didn't expect to see Rita Skeeter on the map, but did a quick scan for her anyway, just in case. He also wanted to make sure to steer clear of Moody, knowing as he did that the ex-Auror's magical eye could easily see through his invisibility cloak.

Seeing nothing, he set out for Gryffindor Tower, checking the map intermittently to make sure the coast was still clear. Upon reaching the seventh floor, Harry took one last look. He had too much experience sneaking around the castle at night to let his guard down just because he was in sight of the finish line. It was on this last look that he saw something distinctly odd. The dots representing Filch and Mrs Norris had been making their regular patrols all night, and he'd seen Snape once, but now a third name was moving about, and it was one Harry would never have expected to see: Bartemius Crouch.

Forgetting for a moment that he was still standing out in the open, Harry stood transfixed watching as Mr Crouch descended into the dungeons. There he was met by Snape, who had just emerged from his office. Harry watched as the two of them stood talking for several minutes before parting ways again, Crouch heading back up toward the ground floor and Snape back in the direction he had come.

Harry might have continued watching where Crouch was going, but a crash from the floor below jolted him back to alertness, and he looked to see Peeves had moved on from the Charms corridor and was now just around the corner from the base of the staircase Harry had just climbed. By the sounds of things, he'd just knocked over a suit of armor, and that meant Filch wasn't going to be far behind. Sure enough, another glance at the map showed the surly old caretaker and his skulking cat both making a beeline toward the sixth floor corridor. It was time to go. Deactivating the map and tucking it under his arm, he made sure he had a tight grip on his egg and bolted toward the Fat Lady's portrait, where he said the password quietly (in case Filch was close enough to hear him), and for once managed to make it back to the common room without incident.

~O~

The next morning was Saturday, and Harry was up well before Ron. He didn't see Hermione in the common room or at breakfast, but that likely meant she was already in the library as opposed to having a lie-in. Ginny, however, was only a few minutes behind him.

'Well?' she said without preamble, sitting down next to him at the Gryffindor table and helping herself to some porridge. It was about as bold as she'd ever been when talking to him and Harry couldn't help feeling slightly amused and impressed.

'Well what?' he asked, though he was fairly certain he knew what she was on about.

'I know you had Ron open the portrait for you to sneak out last night,' she said quietly. 'Did you take a bath with the egg?'

'I did,' he said carefully. This was new territory with Ginny and he had no way of knowing if she was the sort to be unbearably smug about being right.

'And?' she prodded when he didn't elaborate.

'I er… have to learn to breathe underwater.'

'What?' she asked, visibly shocked.

'I'll tell you about it later; I probably shouldn't be talking about it here,' he said. _Or at all_ , he added to himself, but he wasn't about to delude himself that he could pull this off without Ron and Hermione's help, and if he was going to tell them he might as well tell Ginny, seeing as how she knew most of it already and he might not have solved the egg clue at all without her pushing him.

'Later' turned out to be that evening, when Ron challenged him to another chess match. Hermione sat down with a book to watch as she often did, despite tutting that Harry had more important things he should be worrying about. For once he agreed with her. He caught Ginny's eye across the common room and she disentangled herself from her group of friends to come join them.

'Come to watch me trounce Harry, Ginny?' Ron asked as she sat down on Harry's side of the board.

'Be careful, Ron,' Ginny teased. 'One of these days he might surprise you.'

'Some day maybe,' Ron conceded. 'But not anytime soon.'

'I'm going to have to agree with Ron on that one, Ginny,' Harry admitted, sending a pawn forward to begin the game. 'But thanks for being patient. I know what it's like when you want to know something.'

'What are you talking about, Harry?' Hermione asked, looking up from her book. Ron was still deciding which strategy he wanted to go with.

'Last night I finally cracked the egg's clue,' he stated simply.

'Did you really?' Hermione said, impressed. 'Well done, Harry!'

'Good work, mate,' said Ron, looking up after making his move. 'So what did it say, anyway?'

'Apparently he has to breathe underwater for some reason,' Ginny announced. The surprised and confused looks on his two friends' faces almost made Harry burst out laughing, but he managed to hold it together.

'How is it you know about this?' Ron asked his sister.

'Harry told me this morning at breakfast,' said Ginny casually, as though Harry telling her things before Ron was an everyday occurrence, 'but he wouldn't tell me any more until he could gather you two up.'

'Ginny convinced me to stop being a git and accept a hint from Cedric,' Harry explained before either of his friends had a chance to ask. 'That's what I was doing last night,' he added to Ron, who hadn't asked but clearly must have wondered.

'Did she now?' Hermione asked, looking very amused indeed, and impressed. 'Well done, Ginny. Harry never listens to anyone.'

'Especially about not being a git,' Ron added. 'We should invite you to join us more often.'

'Thanks very much,' Ginny said sarcastically to Ron, despite practically preening at Hermione's comment.

'Excuse me, I am right here you know,' Harry huffed indignantly. Ron smirked and Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. 'Anyway, I've got to go into the lake and get something the merpeople have taken from me, and I've got an hour to do it.'

'An hour?' Hermione asked. 'That's an awfully long time. I don't know of anything that would let you stay down there that long.'

'What have they taken?' Ron asked. 'Maybe you could just summon it back like you did with your Firebolt in the first task.'

'I've no idea,' Harry said. 'And anyway, I doubt they've taken it yet. The task isn't for another month and a half, after all.'

'At least that gives you plenty of time to find a spell that will help,' Ginny offered. That did make Harry feel a little better, but then Hermione said, 'but he has to master whatever spell it is once we find it.' Harry's stomach dropped again.

'If he can master a summoning charm in one night, I think he'll be able to manage it, provided we find something that'll work,' said Ron. Heartened as he was by his best friend's confidence in him, that last caveat didn't do much to make the sick knot in his gut go away.

For much of the next week, Harry spent most of his time in the library. He thought by the time the tournament finished, he'd probably have spent as much time in there this one year as in the rest of his Hogwarts career combined, past and future.

Ron and Hermione often came with him to help him search, and in a surprising but welcome turn Ginny did too. She was gradually opening up more and more around him, and the more she did, the more he found that he really enjoyed her company. Just as he'd observed at the Yule Ball, she complemented both Ron's wit and Hermione's intelligence with her own, and he further discovered she could serve as both a buffer between them and a refuge from them when their bickering got just a tad too heated.

They had decided to focus on Charms, since Hermione reasoned any human Transfiguration would be too advanced, and too risky if it went wrong – an assessment Harry heartily agreed with. Still, by the weekend they had found nothing, and Hermione was surprised to hear that Harry was planning on going to Hogsmeade for the first trip of the new term.

'I'd have thought you'd want to devote all your time to the Triwizard task,' she said Friday night when he told them he'd be going.

'Hermione, I need to get out of that library,' he told her. 'I'm going spare. At this point even if I found something I might not even notice, I'm so exhausted.'

'Let him have a break, Hermione,' Ron said. 'We've been searching all week and even _your_ eyes hurt; you were squinting into that last book an inch from your face.'

In the end it was agreed that they would go, but they didn't end up staying very long and by the time they got back, Harry wondered if it had even been worth it. Still intent on taking a break from the library, he entertained himself for a while by making up some more Divination homework, losing a few chess matches to Ron, and coming up with ways to accomplish the second task that would not require so much research.

'If only I had an aqualung,' he mused absently that afternoon. Hermione laughed, but Ron was curious.

'What's an aqualung?' he asked. 'Sounds useful.'

'It's a thing muggles use for breathing underwater,' Harry explained. 'It's got a tank of air that you wear on your back, and a tube that runs to a mask that lets you see and breathe.'

'That's brilliant!' Ron exclaimed. 'Muggles come up with the coolest things.' Then he thought for a minute. 'Hey, why not just do what you did last time? Summon one of these aqualung things from a nearby muggle village?' He seemed awfully excited at the prospect.

'Ron, there are a few things wrong with that,' Hermione explained, shaking her head and chuckling. 'On the off chance that Harry can figure out how to operate one without any training in under an hour, I'm sure muggles would notice an aqualung zooming across the countryside by itself. I have a feeling that would violate the International Statute of Secrecy.'

'Fair point,' Ron conceded. 'It might almost be worth it just to see the newspaper headlines, though.'

'Muggle or magical?' Harry asked, grinning.

'Both.'

They were still laughing about this when Ginny came over and plopped down in an armchair to join them.

'What happened to you three today?' she asked. 'Dean Thomas said you came into the Three Broomsticks, had a shouting match with Rita Skeeter and then took off, and no one saw you for the rest of the day.'

'That was pretty much our day in Hogsmeade,' Ron confirmed, nodding. 'Though Harry did have Bagman offer to cheat for him right before that.'

'What?' Ginny asked, turning to Harry.

'Yeah,' Harry said. 'He wasn't exactly being subtle about it, either. Said he'd "taken a liking" to me or something, and that we all wanted a Hogwarts victory. I asked if that meant he'd offered Cedric help too, but he said no.'

'That's odd,' said Ginny. 'Why would he do that? Isn't he supposed to be one of the people running the tournament?'

'That's what we thought,' Hermione said. 'It all seemed very dodgy.'

'I'm not sure he was telling the truth about those goblins, either,' said Ron.

'Goblins?' Ginny asked.

'He said they were looking for Mr. Crouch, who's apparently disappeared and is letting Percy run his department,' Harry said. Ginny's eyebrows vanished into her hair, and Harry couldn't blame her. Then he remembered something.

'That's something else,' he said. 'Bagman said no one at the Ministry knows where Crouch is, and that Percy's still saying he's ill.'

'Maybe Percy's poisoning him,' Ginny remarked. Harry and Ron laughed, Ron having said the same thing earlier in the day. Hermione just huffed and rolled her eyes.

'No, but the thing is, I saw Crouch just the other day,' Harry went on. 'Well, the other night, really. When I went to go solve the egg clue.'

'What?' all three of them asked at once.

'You never said anything about that, Harry,' Hermione said. 'Where was this?'

'Down in the dungeons,' said Harry. 'Well, I saw him on the map, but same difference, right?'

'This is that map again that you were going to tell me about?' asked Ginny.

'Oh, right,' Harry said, having forgotten his promise to show it to her. He pulled it out of his bag and surreptitiously looked around before opening it up and tapping it with his wand. 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'

As always, the lines of ink spread out over the old weathered parchment to form an enchanted map of the castle. Labeled dots moved around its rooms and corridors while Ginny looked on in awe.

'This is amazing!' she exclaimed, turning it toward her and scanning it with her eyes. 'Where did you get it?'

'Your brothers gave it to me.' Harry felt there was no real need to specify which brothers. Ginny apparently agreed.

'Of course they did,' she said, rolling her eyes and grinning. 'Where did _they_ get it? No, don't tell me … they stole it. Right? From Filch's office, I'm guessing. This seems like the sort of thing he'd have taken from someone at some point.'

'Right in one, little sis,' said Ron, looking at her proudly. 'But I bet you'll never guess who made it.'

Ginny looked again at the map. 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,' she read aloud. 'Who are they?'

'I'll give you a hint,' said Ron. 'You know one of them personally.'

'I do?' Ginny asked, looking at the names again. Harry was having fun watching the wheels turn in her head as she tried to figure it out. 'Which one?'

'Moony,' Harry supplied.

'Moony,' she repeated. 'Boy or girl? No, wait, it says "Messrs", so it's a boy. Do they go to school here?'

'How many hints do you think we're going to give you?' Ron teased.

'Well excuse me, you haven't exactly given me a lot to go on here,' she fired back.

'He did go to school here, but it was before we were born,' Harry said, enjoying this game very much.

'So it's a man I know who went to Hogwarts, and his nickname is Moony,' Ginny repeated to herself. She chewed her lip and thought for a moment. 'Moony, Moony … moon … No! It's not Professor Lupin, is it?' Harry, Ron, and Hermione all grinned and nodded. Ginny laughed triumphantly. 'Oh, that's brilliant!' she cried. 'Do Fred and George know?'

'They have no idea,' Harry said wickedly.

'That is so … I can't believe this!' Ginny said, her laughter still subsiding. 'He didn't seem anything like a troublemaker at all when he was here.'

'He and his friends made this when they were in school,' Harry explained. Hermione shot him a look that he didn't understand, and Ginny finally calmed her giggles.

'His friends … these other three, you mean? Who were they? Or do you know?'

Harry and Ron sobered quickly. Now Harry understood what Hermione had meant with that look. They were on the verge of revealing more to Ginny than he had originally intended.

'What?' Ginny asked, picking up on the change in mood. 'You know, don't you? Is it bad?'

'Not really,' Hermione said diplomatically. 'It's just, well, a lot of secrets are involved and… oh, what do you think, Harry?'

All three of his friends were now looking at him. Hermione was seeking direction, Ron was curious, and Ginny…Ginny's eyes were altogether more intense than the others'. Harry got the feeling that she would be incredibly hurt if he shut his mouth now, and that was his own fault, really. He'd let her into his confidence already by telling her about the map, to kick her back out again somehow didn't seem right.

'I think we can tell her,' he finally said. 'The gist of it, at least. It won't hurt anybody and it's not like we can't trust her.' Ron's expression didn't change much but Hermione looked surprised, and he could guess why. Harry had never been big on sharing secrets with anyone, to do so with anyone other than his two best friends was something of a new experience, but the look of joy and gratitude on Ginny's face told him it would be worth it.

'Whatever you say, Harry,' said Ron. 'It's your business to tell whom you want, I suppose.'

'It's really not that big of a deal,' Harry insisted. Ginny apparently disagreed, for her brilliant smile had yet to leave her face. 'Anyway, Lupin's nickname was Moony because he was a werewolf, as you probably guessed.' At Ginny's nod he continued, but not before looking around again to make sure no one was listening. 'The other three made nicknames for themselves based off their animagus forms.'

'They were animagi?' Ginny asked, astonished. 'While they were still in school?'

'They were quite brilliant, or so I hear,' Harry said. 'They did it so they could spend the full moon with Lupin without being in danger. Werewolves only attack humans.'

'That's … that's …' Ginny stammered. 'They must've been really good friends.'

'They were,' Harry said, thinking sadly about how one of those friends would later stab the others in the back, and how they'd trusted him too much to see it coming. 'Wormtail's name was Peter Pettigrew, and he turned into a rat.' Ron scowled angrily, but Ginny was too wrapped up in what Harry was saying to notice. 'Padfoot was Sirius Black – '

'WHAT?' Ginny shrieked. They all nervously looked around to see if they'd drawn anyone's attention. Thankfully, the few that had glanced over had already lost interest and turned back to their own affairs. Ginny continued in a much lower tone. 'You mean the escaped Death Eater who tried to kill you last year?'

'Er, yeah,' said Harry shiftily. He would have to correct that assumption at some point. He didn't like people thinking of his godfather as a murdering psychopath. It would have to wait, though. 'I'll tell you more about him later. Anyway, he turned into a big black dog. And Prongs was…my dad.'

'Your dad? Really?' She was excited about this latest information, but it was clear that she hadn't put Sirius out of her mind just yet.

'Yeah,' Harry nodded, smiling slightly. 'He turned into a stag.'

'Like your patronus!' Ginny realized with delight.

'Exactly. Wait, how do you know what my patronus is?'

'You're kidding, right?' Ginny asked. 'Don't you remember last year when you shot it at Malfoy pretending to be a Dementor during that Quidditch match?'

Harry thought for a moment before he burst out laughing. Ron was right behind him. 'I'd forgotten all about that!' he guffawed. 'Oh Merlin, that was a good day.'

'Go back to what you were saying about Crouch, Harry,' Hermione prodded after their laughter had died back down. Trust her to bring them back on topic after they'd all been distracted and forgotten what they were originally talking about.

'What? Oh, right,' Harry said, taking a moment to recall exactly where they had been in the discussion. 'Well, I had the map with me to make sure I could get to the prefects' bathroom and back without running into anyone.'

'Why were you going to the prefects' bathroom?' Ron interrupted.

'He had to take a bath with the egg,' Ginny explained.

'What? Why – '

'Can we please try and stay focused?' Hermione cut in. Ron held up his hands apologetically.

'Right. Well, anyway, I was just about back to the Fat Lady, and I thought I'd take one more look, and I saw him going down to the dungeons. He met up with Snape, and it looked like they talked for a bit and then he turned around and left again. I didn't see where he went after that because Peeves knocked something over and Filch was coming. I forgot all about it later with all the research we've been doing.'

'What was Crouch doing talking to Snape in the dungeons in the middle of the night?' Ron wondered aloud.

'Especially if he's supposed to be out ill and no one knows where he is,' Hermione added.

'Have you seen him on it since?' Ron asked.

'I haven't really had reason to look at the map much lately, have I?' Harry countered, his eyebrow raised.

'Right, of course.'

'It's very strange, though,' Hermione said. 'What would he even need to talk to Snape about that he couldn't say by owl?'

'Or during the day,' Ron added.

'It is very strange,' Ginny agreed, 'and I love that I finally got to see this map, and I want to hear more about your dad, Harry, but what does any of this have to do with why you three left Hogsmeade almost as soon as you got there?'

'Oh!' said Ron. 'Right, we were talking about that, weren't we?' He chuckled. 'Well you see, our dear Hermione here decided she'd had enough of ol' Rita's rubbish. Told her off in the middle of the street, she did, then stormed all the way back up to Hagrid's to tell him to stop being ridiculous and to come back to work.' There was a definite note of pride in his voice, and Hermione had gone a fierce shade of pink by the time he was done.

'You did?' Ginny asked, looking excitedly over at the older girl, who nodded silently. 'Did it work? Is he coming back?'

'He is,' said Harry happily. 'Dumbledore was there too, and he said he refused to accept Hagrid's resignation and that he expected him back at work on Monday, no excuses. Hagrid kind of came back to himself after that. He's a bit hacked off at Madame Maxime, though.'

'I'll say he is,' joked Ron. 'He started badmouthing her right in front of us, even though he shouldn't think we would know anything about it.'

'Good for him,' Ginny said. 'He doesn't need someone like her who can't accept herself or him for who they truly are.' Harry wholeheartedly agreed.

'You probably shouldn't have told off Rita Skeeter though, Hermione,' Ginny went on. 'She'll come after you next; you know how petty she is.'

Hermione sighed. 'Not this again. I've already said I'm not worried about her. No one in my family reads the _Daily Prophet_ , and anyway it's not like there's anything about me she could say that everyone doesn't already know. What's the worst she could come up with? I'm Muggle-born? Please. The only people who would care about that already don't like me, and I'd want nothing to do with them regardless.'

Ron and Ginny shared a doubtful look and Harry couldn't help but feel like maybe they had a better handle on the dangers of antagonizing Rita Skeeter than Hermione did. If she couldn't find anything concrete, he wouldn't put it past her to make something up.

~O~

Much of the next week went by as the previous one had done. Despite spending nearly every spare minute in the library, checking every book he could lay his hands on (including a few like _Fishing Made Easy: It's Magic!_ that he was fairly sure would not help), Harry was no closer to learning how to breathe underwater than he had been that night in the prefects' bathroom. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all continued to help him, but he was getting the feeling that even if he had everyone in the castle looking, they still wouldn't find anything useful.

By Thursday Harry was starting to go stir crazy. They'd brought some books back to the common room, but his three friends had fallen asleep and the words on the pages were all starting to blur together.

Deciding he'd once again hit the point where further looking wouldn't help, Harry got up and stretched, and surveyed the common room. Everyone else had gone to bed except for a pair of fifth years on the other side of the room who had fallen asleep studying. Harry observed his friends; it wasn't unusual to see Hermione curled up asleep in an armchair with a book, but Ron had laid his head down on the table and was starting to drool a bit, and Ginny had collapsed against the arm of the sofa opposite him with her hair fanned out prettily around her face. While he felt slightly guilty for keeping them up like this, he was mostly just extraordinarily grateful.

Feeling restless and needing to get out, Harry decided to make a run to the kitchens as he'd skipped supper. He pulled out the Marauders' Map and surveyed it, checking to see that the path to the cellar was clear, when something caught his eye. In the bottom left corner, in what he knew was Snape's office, someone was moving around as though looking for something, and it wasn't Snape. It was Mr Crouch.

Harry hesitated, wondering what he should do. His first instinct was to go out and see what was going on, but sneaking out to spy on an AWOL ministry official seemed a lot riskier and more foolish reason to sneak out than simply going to the kitchens for something to eat. And it wasn't as if whatever Mr Crouch was up to was really any of his concern; he was just madly curious.

Harry doddered from foot to foot in indecision, then decided he'd wake Ron up to get his opinion on the matter. Taking a quick look in the map to make sure Crouch was still there, he tiptoed back over to the table and gently shook his friend's shoulder.

'Ron,' he whispered. 'Hey Ron, wake up.'

'Huh?' Ron grunted, stirring slowly and peering around, rubbing the sleep from his face. 'What's goin' on?'

'Have a look at this,' Harry said without preamble, and thrust the map onto the table under Ron's face. It took a moment for Ron to focus on what he'd been given.

'What am I looking for?'

'Look in Snape's office,' Harry instructed.

'What do I care what Snape's doing at this – bloody hell, it's Crouch!'

'Shh!' Harry urged, but it was too late. Hermione stirred but merely turned over and remained asleep, but Ginny was roused by her brother's outburst.

'What?' she murmured, rubbing her eyes much as Ron had done. 'What time is it?'

'No idea,' Harry said. 'Middle of the night, at any rate.'

'Harry's spotted Crouch roaming around Snape's office,' Ron offered, either forgetting he usually didn't share such things so openly with Ginny, or shifting his stance on the matter.

'Crouch?' Ginny questioned, her interest piqued immediately, and she crawled along the couch to join them and look at the map for herself. 'I thought nobody knew where he was?'

'No one does, if Bagman can be believed,' Harry said. 'He's obviously somewhere, if he keeps sending Percy directions, but why's he here all of a sudden?'

'Well, if he's trying to stay out of people's notice, this is the time to come here, isn't it?' Ron pointed out. 'He's not likely to run into anyone at this hour.'

'Except maybe Snape,' Ginny said. 'Look!' She pointed to a room down the corridor from Snape's office, which Crouch had just vacated. The Potions master himself was quickly making his way toward the office. ' _So much for going to have a look_ ,' Harry thought to himself.

'This'll be an interesting conversation,' said Ron. 'There's no way Crouch gets out of there without Snape seeing him. Look, they're meeting up now.'

'Didn't you say they met up the last time you saw Crouch on this map, Harry?' Ginny asked.

'They did, yeah,' said Harry, remembering. 'Around this same corridor, too. So that means whatever Crouch is up to, Snape at least knows about it.'

'Can't be anything good, then,' sneered Ron.

'I wonder why Snape was letting Crouch rummage around in his office?' Ginny said. 'You'd think he'd want to at least be there.'

'It doesn't make any sense,' Harry said. 'Why's Crouch pretending to be ill? I mean, he could just as easily sneak up here at night while still going to work like normal, couldn't he?'

'Maybe he's got Snape brewing a potion for him, like Professor Lupin did,' said Ginny.

'You don't reckon he's a werewolf?' asked Ron excitedly.

'Not necessarily,' Harry said, screwing his face up in thought. 'But Ginny might be on to something. It could be an illness he doesn't want anyone to know about, so he has Snape brewing him potions in secret instead of going to St. Mungo's or something.'

'Awfully dodgy of him, isn't it?' said Ron.

'Well, if he thought whatever illness he has would damage his reputation, I could see him doing something like that,' Harry said. 'Remember what he did to Winky.'

At that, all three of them cast a nervous glance at a still sleeping Hermione, hoping she hadn't heard. None of them wanted to get her started on house elves at this time of night. In the end, they decided they'd worry about Crouch later and try getting some sleep. They gently woke Hermione, and she and Ginny headed up the girls' staircase while Ron and Harry went back up to their own dormitory. Thoughts of Crouch and Snape swirling about had quite effectively pushed any thought of a late night snack right out of his head.

~O~

The next day in Charms, Ron and Harry related to Hermione what they had seen on the map under cover of the chaos caused by practicing Banishing Charms. No one was likely to overhear them – or even care what they were talking about – when objects (and professors) of all shapes and sizes were whizzing about the room. However, as they could only speculate on what the two wizards had discussed, the conversation soon devolved into Hermione accusing Ron of having a bias against Snape versus Ron accusing Hermione of having a bias against Crouch. Doing his best to tune them out, Harry heaved a great sigh and waved his wand at one of his cushions, which to his great shock flew right across the room and landed directly in the box they were meant to be targeting.

That evening, Harry wrote a letter to his godfather. Sirius had told him to do so if anything else odd happened at the castle, and Harry considered a disappeared ministry official showing up twice in the middle of the night for a chat with Snape to be odd. He then returned his attention to his underwater breathing problem, which he was growing more and more sure was impossible. Even with Ron and Hermione's help – and now Ginny's, as well – he hadn't come close to finding anything at all. Panic began to rise in his throat with one week left to go and no leads at all.

With two days remaining, Harry began to go off food again. _**The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was the return of the brown owl he had sent to Sirius. He pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to him:**_

 _ **Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.**_

 _ **Harry turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank.**_

' _ **Weekend after next,' whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Harry's shoulder. 'Here – take my quill and send this owl back straight away.'**_

 _ **Harry scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius' letter, tied it back onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. What had he expected? Advice on how to survive underwater? He had been so intent on telling Sirius all about Snape and**_ Crouch **,** _ **he had completely forgotten to mention the egg's clue.**_

' _ **What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?' said Ron.**_

' _ **Dunno,' said Harry dully. The momentary happiness that had flared inside him at the sight of the owl had died. 'Come on … Care of Magical Creatures.'**_

The lesson Hagrid had prepared on unicorn foals would likely have been tremendously enjoyable had Harry's throat not been filled with bile and his stomach tied in knots. Hagrid expressing his fervent belief that Harry was going to win didn't help matters much, either.

 _ **By the evening before the second task, Harry felt as though he was trapped in a nightmare. He was fully aware that even if, by some miracle, he managed to find a suitable spell, he'd have a real job mastering it overnight. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he got to work on the egg's clue sooner? Why had he ever let his mind wander in class – what if a teacher had once mentioned how to breathe underwater?**_

He, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny _**sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from each other by the massive piles of books on the desk in front of each of them. Harry's heart gave a huge leap every time he saw the word 'water' on a page, but more often than not it was merely, 'Take two pints of water, half a pound of shredded mandrake leaves and a newt … '**_

' _ **I don't reckon it can be done,' said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. 'There's nothing. Noting. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake.'**_

' _ **There must be something,' Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page. 'They'd never have set a task that was undoable.'**_

' _ **They have,' said Ron. 'Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate.'**_

' _ **There's a way of doing it!' Hermione said crossly. 'There just has to be!'**_

 _ **She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before.**_

'We don't even know if we're looking for the right thing,' Ginny moaned, rubbing her face in an attempt to stay alert. 'This is why they set an age limit, I reckon. The answer's probably something we'll cover in sixth year; I bet the other champions knew exactly where to look.'

Harry thought she was probably right, but the thought wasn't the least bit comforting.

' _ **I know what I should have done,' said Harry, resting, face down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. 'I should've learnt to be an Animagus like Sirius.'**_

The second he said it, Harry knew he'd messed up. He'd become so used to Ginny's presence these past few weeks, and he was so mentally exhausted, he'd forgotten she didn't know about his godfather. Ron and Hermione remembered, however, and their faces were as white as the castle's ghosts. For one fleeting moment, Harry hoped Ginny hadn't noticed anything amiss, but that hope was dashed by the bewildered and mildly anxious look on her face as she regarded him with curiosity and a hint of fear.

'Oh, bloody, buggering shite,' Harry muttered. It was a mark of how serious the situation was that Hermione did not reprimand him.

'Just to be clear,' Ginny said tentatively, 'you're talking about Sirius Black, right? The man who supposedly tried to murder you last year?'

'Cat's out of the bag now, innit?' Ron said.

'Listen, Ginny,' Harry said frantically, 'I promise there's an explanation. And I'll even tell you what it is. But not now, yeah? One thing at a time.'

There was a tense pause, during which Ginny neither blinked nor took her eyes off him, but finally she said, 'All right.' Harry, Ron, and Hermione each let out a sigh of relief. Hermione turned back to _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas_ , and seconds later slammed it shut.

' _ **Oh, this is no use,'**_ she said. _**'Who on earth wants to make their nose hair into ringlets?'**_

' _ **I wouldn't mind,' said Fred Weasley's voice. 'Be a talking point, wouldn't it?'**_ He and George had just emerged from the bookshelves.

' _ **What're you two doing here?' Ron asked.**_

' _ **Looking for you,' said George. 'McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione.'**_

' _ **Why?' said Hermione, looking surprised.**_

' _ **Dunno … she was looking a bit grim, though,' said Fred.**_

' _ **We're supposed to take you down to her office,' said George.**_

Ron and Hermione looked quizzically at Harry, who felt his stomach drop. His immediate thought was that McGonagall was going to tell them off for helping him so much, but he realized that couldn't be it; she'd have sent for Ginny, too.

' _ **We'll meet you back in the common room,' Hermione told**_ them, _ **as she got up to go with Ron –**_ _ **both of them looked very anxious. 'Bring as many of these books as you can, OK?'**_

' _ **Right,' said Harry uneasily.**_

They stayed in the library until eight o'clock, when Madam Pince came to chivvy them out. They loaded themselves up with as many books as they could carry and hauled them back up to the Gryffindor common room.

Crookshanks crawled into Ginny's lap and curled up, purring deeply. She scratched his ears absently as she pored over one book after another. He'd never have expected this much help from anyone but Ron and Hermione, and he was exceedingly grateful.

By ten to midnight, the common room had emptied of all but the two of them and Crookshanks, long since gone to sleep. All the remaining books had been searched, and Ron and Hermione had not come back.

Visions of failure and humiliation danced through his head. He could hear Fleur Delcour's condescending tones, see Karkaroff's satisfied, yellow-toothed grin. He could see Malfoy smugly flashing _POTTER STINKS_ before the whole crowd, and Hagrid's crestfallen face …

'I'm not done yet,' he said suddenly, standing up. Ginny, who had almost nodded off, jerked back awake.

'What are you going to do?' she asked.

'I'm going back down to the library,' he said. 'I'll stay there all night if I have to.'

'Harry, you'll get caught,' she said.

'Oh, no I won't.' Without explaining further, he dashed up to his dormitory and retrieved his invisibility cloak, then ran back downstairs to where Ginny was still sitting on the couch, stretching her arms and back in a decent imitation of the cat on her lap.

'What's that?' she asked.

'Invisibility cloak,' he said. 'They'll never even know I was there.'

He hadn't even taken two steps when he heard, 'Will it cover two people?'

'What?' he asked, spinning around. She was rising from the couch – gently, so as not to throw Crookshanks – and looking at him expectantly.

'Can we both fit under there?' she asked.

'Ginny, you don't have to – '

'I know I don't have to,' she said, cutting him off. 'I want to. Now can I fit under there with you or not?'

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were creeping through the corridor outside the library. They hadn't said a word to each other on the way down, communicating only with gestures regarding when to take a left turn, or where to duck out of Peeves' way. If Harry felt a bit warm at being in such close proximity to a girl he did not regard as a sister – a girl he had recently noticed was actually quite pretty – it was nothing compared to what Ginny must have felt. He could swear he could feel the heat radiating off her, and could make out her furious blush even in the dark.

When they arrived in the library, they threw the cloak off and split up immediately to search for books. There was no one around to see them, and they could always put it back on if necessary.

They met at a table near the back and began to search. Harry was trying his best not to panic, but couldn't help himself from growing increasingly frantic as time wore on. **One in the morning … two in the morning …** _ **the only way he could keep going was to tell himself, over and over again,**_ **Next book … in the next one … the next one …**

~O~

He was in the prefects' bathroom, trying to snatch his Firebolt back from the mermaid on the wall, but no matter how much he jumped or pleaded, she would just laugh and pull it farther out of his reach. He started to sink in the bubbly water, and she laughed harder and poked him in the side with the broomstick.

' _ **That hurts – get off – ouch – '**_

' _ **Harry Potter must wake up, sir!'**_

' _ **Stop poking me – '**_

' _ **Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!'**_

 _ **Harry opened his eyes. He was still in the library;**_ Ginny was stirring next to him, roused by the noise. The side of her face was stuck to the pages of _Where There's a Wand There's a Way_ , and his glasses had slid off of his face onto the copy of _Challenging Charms for Charming Folk_ he'd been trying to read. He put them back onto his face and straightened them, blinking in the bright sunlight beaming in through the window.

' _ **Harry Potter needs to hurry!' squeaked Dobby. 'The second task starts in ten minutes, Harry Potter – '**_

' _ **Ten minutes?' Harry croaked,**_ as Ginny jerked fully awake, the panic on her face mirroring his own. _**'Ten –**_ **ten minutes?'**

 _ **He looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Harry's chest into his stomach.**_

' _ **Hurry, Harry Potter!' squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry's sleeve. 'You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!'**_

' _ **It's too late, Dobby,' Harry said hopelessly. 'I'm not doing the task. I don't know how – '**_

' _ **Harry Potter will do the task!' squeaked the elf. 'Dobby knew Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!'**_

' _ **What?' said Harry. 'But you don't know what the second task is – '**_

' _ **Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Wheezy – '**_

' _ **Find my what?'**_

' – _**and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!'**_

' _ **What's a Wheezy?'**_

' _ **Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy – Wheezy who is giving Dobby his jumper!'**_

 _ **Dobby plucked at the shrunken maroon sweater he was now wearing over his shorts.**_

' _ **What?' Harry gasped. 'They've got … they've got Ron?'**_ He and Ginny shared a panicked look.

' _ **The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!' squeaked Dobby. 'And past an hour – '**_

' – " _ **the prospect's black",' Harry recited, starting, horror-struck, at the elf, '"Too late, it's gone, it won't come back …" Dobby – what've I got to do?'**_

He listened as Dobby pulled out a wad of what looked like slimy, grey worms, which he called gillyweed, and explained what to do.

'I'll take care of this,' said Ginny quickly, indicating his cloak, his map, and the myriad books strewn about. 'You need to go, now!'

With profuse thanks to the both of them, which probably bordered on Dobby's performance after being freed, he dashed out of the library and down towards the grounds, hoping against hope that he would arrive at the task in time. He didn't really know what they would do to him or Ron if he were late and missed the task, and he wasn't keen on finding out.

~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~

There were a few more quoted passages from the book than I'd have liked near the end, but it was getting increasingly difficult to get around them, and one of my major goals with this story is to examine how the story would be different now that Ginny is more involved. I feel like I at least accomplished that.

Please leave a review if you can so I can get a sense of what people are thinking about this one.


	3. Chapter 3

I had a bit of trouble paring this one down; you'll notice again some bolded italics in a few places where I couldn't adequately paraphrase or summarize the original text. If it's just a single direct quote from a character (i.e. no narration), I didn't bother. Again, I want the focus to be on how the scenes would flow with the addition of Ginny.

~O~O~O~

The second task, like the first before it, proved nowhere near as daunting in reality as the lead-up to it had been. Still, Harry was glad to be out of the lake, even if he had apparently made a fool of himself "playing the hero", as Ron had put it. Fleur's beaming gratitude somewhat made up for it, at least. And when the judges (except for Karkaroff) gave him full marks for showing "moral fiber", he thought maybe the whole ordeal hadn't been so bad after all.

'Next time we're in Hogsmeade,' he said, once they were back in the common room and Ginny had come to join them (and surreptitiously return his map and cloak), 'I'm buying Dobby a pair of socks for every day of the year.'

'Why's that?' Ron asked while Ginny giggled.

'I'll tell you later,' Harry said, for Seamus and Dean had come over to clap him on the back and congratulate him. Then Neville, and Parvati and Lavender, followed by several older students he barely knew, and some younger ones he didn't know at all. Colin of course had to take a picture, and his brother Dennis wouldn't stop asking if he'd seen the giant squid. The upside to all this was that Ron and Hermione were getting lot of attention as well, which seemed to cheer Ron immensely.

After dinner, once things had calmed down considerably, Harry and Ginny told Ron and Hermione about Dobby's last-minute rescue.

'That was really lucky,' Hermione said. 'It's a good thing he knew about Gillyweed.'

'Elves are supposed to know all sorts of stuff that wizards don't,' Ron said. 'It helps them do their jobs. I mean, look how they can just pop around, even in Hogwarts. And I have it on good authority wizards can't do that.' He grinned, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Har har,' she said. 'Though I'm glad you made that point, Ron. It's just one more bit of proof that elves are every bit as clever and powerful as humans, and deserve the same rights.'

'Oh, come on, Hermione,' Ron practically whinged. 'Can't we forget about _spew_ for one night? We all agree Dobby's brilliant; can't we leave it at that for now?'

'It's not _spew_ , Ron,' she replied angrily, 'and the reason nothing is ever done is because nobody wants to talk about it.' She sighed. 'But I suppose we can take tonight just to celebrate. Harry's tied for first place now, after all.'

'Never saw that coming,' said Harry.

'Hagrid did,' said Ginny, grinning brightly.

'I guess he did,' Harry admitted, chuckling. The sight of Ginny grinning reminded him of something. 'Listen, I just want to thank you lot for helping. You didn't have to.'

'Of course we didn't have to, Harry,' said Hermione. 'We wanted to.'

'That's what I told him,' said Ginny.

'Yes, I'm not surprised,' said Hermione. 'He never does listen.'

'Hey!' cried Harry indignantly. 'I am right here, you know.'

'Yes, yes,' said Hermione, patting his knee as though he were a small child. 'You know it's true, though, Harry. I'd like to think you've learned you can count on us by now.'

'I do know I can count on you,' said Harry, a bit stung. 'What, I'm not allowed to say thank you?'

'Fair enough,' Ron interrupted, for it looked like Hermione was going to say something else. 'You're welcome, in any case. You'd do the same for us.'

''Course I would,' said Harry at once.

There was a short comfortable silence, which Ginny broke by saying, 'So, um, I don't know if now's the right time to ask, but last night in the library...' she trailed off, looking at Harry questioningly. Ron and Hermione turned to look at him too. For a moment he didn't know what she was talking about, then with a jolt of horror realized that he'd accidentally mentioned Sirius in his exhausted panic.

'Oh!' he said awkwardly. 'Right. I said I'd tell you about that. Well, er, this isn't exactly the place for it. It's not something we should be talking about where anyone else can hear.'

'That makes sense, considering,' said Ginny, nodding. 'Where, then?'

Harry thought for a moment, trying to think of a place no one would overhear them, but it was Ron who spoke.

'Come up to our dorm tomorrow after breakfast,' he said. 'Seamus and Dean are usually off doing who-knows-what, and even if Neville's in there we can tell him we have something private to talk to you about and he'll leave.'

'Is that all right?' Ginny asked Harry, valiantly ignoring the red tinge that had overtaken her face.

'Yeah, it's fine,' he said. 'Hermione's been in there before; no one'll be bothered by it.'

The next morning found the four of them up in the fourth year boys' dormitory. Seamus and Dean had predictably gone off somewhere immediately after breakfast, and Neville had said something about a Herbology project before trotting off to either the library or the greenhouses; they weren't sure which.

Ginny was sitting across from Harry on Ron's bed, nervously glancing around at everything except Harry's bed. It would seem the idea of being in his room – even if that wasn't strictly the case – was still a bit much for her. He fought back a grin, surprised to learn that he found the behavior actually somewhat endearing.

Ron was also on his bed – or rather, lounging on it – while Hermione had taken a seat at the foot of Harry's.

'All right, so first things first,' Harry said, forcing Ginny to look at him. 'You can't tell anyone about any of this. Dumbledore is the only other person who knows, and it needs to stay that way for now.'

'Will he mind that you're telling me?' Ginny asked. Harry looked at his two friends, who both shrugged. It summed up his own thoughts rather well.

'Probably not,' he said, 'but best not to test it, yeah?'

'Okay,' Ginny said, nodding.

'Right then, here it is,' said Harry, having run out of stalling tactics. 'Sirius is innocent. He was never a Death Eater, he didn't betray my parents, and he never killed anyone.' Ginny was silent as she took this in; she had to have been expecting something like that. 'Oh, and he's my godfather,' Harry threw in.

That got her attention. 'Your godfather?' she yelped, eyebrows lost in her vibrant red hair. Harry nodded.

'He was my dad's best mate. That's how all this even got started. He was supposed to be secret keeper for my parents when they were in hiding, so when Voldemort turned up and killed them everyone assumed he must have betrayed them.'

Ginny flinched at Voldemort's name, but pressed on with her questions. 'Secret keeper?'

'It's part of a spell called the Fidelius Charm,' Hermione explained. 'It hides a secret – in this case, the location of Harry's family – inside a single living soul. No one can uncover the secret unless the secret keeper willingly tells them.'

'So...does this mean that Sirius Black _wasn't_ your parents' secret keeper?' Ginny asked.

'Right,' Harry said, nodding. 'He wanted everyone to think he was in order to throw Voldemort off the trail. The real secret keeper was another friend of theirs named Peter Pettigrew.' Harry could not keep the scowl off his face at the mention of the traitor's name. Nor, he noticed, could Ron.

'Wormtail from the map!' Ginny exclaimed, clearly excited to be putting the pieces together. 'Was it him, then? Who betrayed your parents and killed those Muggles?'

'It was. Pettigrew had been a spy for Voldemort for over a year by that point. When my mum and dad died, Sirius chased him down and cornered him on a Muggle street. He yelled for everyone to hear that Sirius had betrayed my parents, then he blew up the street and escaped into the sewer.'

'How did he...?' Ginny begain, screwing up her eyes, then she seemed to recall, 'Oh right, you said he could turn into a rat. So he made it look like Sirius blew him up?' Harry did not miss that she had ceased using his godfather's surname.

'And all those Muggles, too,' said Ron angrily from his position behind Ginny. 'He cut off his finger to make it look real. And of course when the Aurors and everyone got there, all the witnesses told them what the bastard had said.'

'And nobody knew he wasn't the real secret keeper,' Ginny said, the realization dawning on her. 'There was no one left who knew the truth.' Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded sadly. 'How did you find all of this out?'

'Well, when Sirius broke out of Azkaban last year, it was because he'd found out where Pettigrew was, and he was trying to protect me.'

'How...?' Ginny began, but Hermione headed her off.

'No one knew he was an animagus,' she said. 'That was how he was able to escape. As far as how he knew where Pettigrew was...' she threw a questioning look at Ron. This seemed to confuse Ginny, who turned to look curiously at her brother as well. Ron met the two girls' gazes for a moment, then sighed and sat up from his headboard.

'You're not going to like this part,' he warned Ginny. 'Pettigrew was Scabbers. He'd been hiding as Percy's pet, and then mine, for twelve years so he could keep an ear out for news. Sirius saw him in that picture of us from Egypt that was in the _Daily Prophet._ '

Ginny's jaw had practically dropped to the floor. 'You're _joking_ ,' she declared, a cold fury already

evident in her tone.

'Wish I was,' Ron said. 'Truth is, we'd been living with a murdering traitor our whole lives and never knew. We almost had him last year, too,' he growed through clenched teeth. 'We could have put him in Azkaban and cleared Sirius's name and everything, but the little rat got away again.'

'He's probably already joined up with Voldemort by now,' Harry said. 'In fact, I'm almost sure of it,' he added, thinking of the dream he'd had over the summer.

"You kind of have to get used to Harry saying the name," Ron said, throwing Harry an irritated look, for Ginny had startled again at Harry's statement.

'It's all right,' Ginny breathed, though she did still look a bit shaken. 'Just caught me off guard is all. So where is Sirius now?'

'We don't know,' Harry said. 'And it's best that way. He's got half the Ministry after him; the fewer people who know where he is, the better.'

Ginny nodded, apparently agreeing with the logic. No one said anything for a minute or so, and then she said, 'Thank you for telling me.'

'Well, I didn't really have a choice after letting it slip the other night,' Harry said.

'No, you could have just told me it was a secret and to never mind,' she insisted. 'I'm really glad you didn't, though.'

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so he mustered a smile and said, 'Hey, I'm just happy another person knows Sirius is innocent. It gets kind of hard hearing people badmouth him all the time, thinking he's some evil murderer.'

'Sorry about that,' Ginny said.

'No, don't worry about it! You didn't know; it's fine. And now you do know, so it's all okay. Right?' He had no idea what he was saying anymore.

Ginny looked up at him and smiled – a genuine, brilliant smile. 'I guess it is.'

Over the next week, Ron's retelling of the events in the lake grew steadily more embellished – particularly when Parvati was around, as she seemed much more interested in him now he was getting so much attention. At the same time, people seemed to find the idea of Hermione being the thing Viktor Krum would most miss highly amusing, and never missed an opportunity to tell her so. It didn't leave her in the best of moods.

'What were you going to do, snore at them?' she snapped at Ron the following Monday after overhearing him tell Parvati and her sister Padma how he'd had his wand hidden up his sleeve, and could have taken out the merpeople any time he'd wanted. His ears went red, but his story reverted to bewitched sleep afterward.

Meanwhile, the weather had taken something of a violent turn. It became very dry, and cruel winds buffetted them every time they ventured outside. Owls were blown off course and post was frequently delayed. _**The brown owl that Harry had sent to Sirius with the dates of the Hogsmeade weekend turned up at breakfast on Friday morning with half its feathers sticking up the wrong way; Harry had no sooner torn off Sirius's reply than it took flight, clearly afraid it was going to be sent outside again.**_

The letter was short and to the point, telling them to be at the end of the road out of the village at two o'clock with as much food as they could carry. Harry was not pleased in the slightest to learn that Sirius had come back to Hogsmeade; Ron pointed out that if he were able to stay hidden when the place was crawling with dementors, he should be all right when it wasn't.

Harry tried to take comfort in this idea, and if he were honest with himself he really was looking forward to seeing Sirius again. His newfound good mood was tested almost immediately however, once they reached the Potions dungeon. Pansy Parkinson laughed and tossed them her issue of _Witch Weekly_ , in which Rita Skeeter had written a short article implying that Hermione was stringing along both Harry and Krum, perhaps with the aid of love potions. Harry was prepared to be indignant, but Hermione merely laughed it off (much to the Slytherins' disappointment).

Ten minutes later though, Hermione began wondering aloud how Rita had managed to know some of the things that had been in the article – such as Krum inviting her to Bulgaria for the summer (something which Ron fixated upon) – and wondering again how she was managing to do this. Unfortunately Snape chose that moment to come check up on them, and ended up reading the entire article aloud to the whole class, and then splitting the three of them up.

Now thoroughly angry, Harry was forced to sit directly in front of Snape, who continued trying to goad him into some kind of outburst. He finally hit on it by accusing Harry of breaking into his office.

The worst part of it was that Snape had every reason to suspect Harry – one of the items stolen had gillyweed, so it was a reasonable assumption. The other, boomslang skin, had been two years ago, and while Harry had been involved, it had technically been Hermione who'd stolen it. Snape shouldn't have any reason to suspect either of those details, however. Harry did the only thing he could and vehemently denied ever so much as entering Snape's office.

Snape, of course, did not believe this (despite it ironically being the truth), and very unsubtly hinted at the prospect of slipping Harry some Veritaserum, a powerful truth potion, to get to bottom of things. Knowing it was not beneath Snape to do such a thing, Harry nervously and silently went back to his potion. Quite aside from getting Dobby and Hermione in trouble, he worried about some of the other secrets he was keeping – most prominently, Sirius.

And, he thought with a squirm, he didn't really fancy the idea of everyone finding out how he felt about Cho Chang, either.

At that point, Karkaroff burst in, demanding to speak with Snape, and hung on until the end of the lesson. Keen to hear what they were going to talk about, Harry engineered a spill of armadillo bile right at the end of class so he could duck down and clean up while everyone was leaving. All he managed to get, though, was Karkaroff insisting on showing Snape something on his inner forearm. This for whatever reason alarmed Snape, who angrily insisted he put it away while scanning the classroom for anyone who might be watching or listening. Needless to say, this was when Harry was discovered. Karkaroff angrily strode out of the room, and Harry was quick to follow, not wanting to be left alone with such an obviously angry Snape.

Around noon the next day, they left the castle under a weak silver sun with as much food as they could fit crammed into Harry's bag. They ran into Ginny and some of her friends on the way across the grounds. She split off from them and jogged over.

'Are you buying a present for Dobby?' she asked.

'Yeah,' said Harry, grinning. He was actually looking forward to it, to be honest. Dobby's unusual taste in clothing meant that picking out a gift for him would be quite fun.

'Do you, er, mind if I come too?' Ginny asked. 'I mean, I want to thank him too.'

'Er, yeah, that's no problem,' Harry said rather nervously. Telling her no felt wrong, but at the same time she didn't know they were planning on meeting Sirius later. Harry could feel Ron and Hermione reacting to his agreement, but didn't bother looking to see what that reaction was.

'Great!' Ginny cheered. She hollered to her friends not to wait up for her and joined into step with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

'You're spending an awful lot of time with us lately, you know,' Ron said to his sister after they'd started moving again.

'Ron!' Hermione admonished.

'Is that a problem?' Ginny asked him, somewhat dangerously, Harry thought.

'Er, no!' Said Ron, hold up his hands and seeming to sense the trouble he was in. 'Just, you know, commenting is all.'

'Well for some insane reason I happen to enjoy spending time with you three," Ginny said. "Merlin only knows why.'

'I bet I can guess,' Ron said, waggling his eyebrows while he glanced rather unsubtly at Harry.

'RON!' Hermione shrieked again, swatting him on the arm.

'Oh, it's fine, Hermione,' said Ginny, though her face was noticeably red. 'If I got upset every time my brothers took the mickey out of me I'd never have time for anything else. Besides, I usually give worse than I get.'

'That's the truth,' Ron said. 'Watch out, Harry. Now you've got her talking, you might not always like what comes out.'

Ginny blushed harder and glared furiously at her brother, her lips scrunched up and fists balled at her sides. Harry couldn't help but laugh.

'It's all right for you to laugh,' Ginny grumbled at him. 'How'd it feel if you were walking with Cho Chang and he started taking the mickey out of you?'

That shut Harry up pretty quickly. Ron, however, found it hilarious.

'Told you!' he said between guffaws.

'Guess I deserved that,' said Harry, quelching down his own embarrassment.

'You didn't, I'm sorry,' said Ginny, looking abashed. 'Blame this git for winding me up.' She jerked her head in Ron's direction.

'No, you're right, I shouldn't have laughed,' Harry said genially. 'You just looked so...well, like you were about the punch him in the face.' Harry was inwardly alarmed; without even realizing it, he had very nealy said "cute". _That_ wouldn't have gone over very well.

'Don't think I wasn't tempted,' said Ginny wryly.

The rest of the walk down to the village was nice; the four of them enjoyed pleasant conversation, and Ginny and Ron would take turns ribbing each other. It was a much more friendly display than Harry was used to seeing from say Fred and George, for whom Ron was generally no match.

They went into Gladrags Wizardwear for Dobby's present, and spent the next hour or so picking out the most lurid socks they could find. Hermione found a pair with flashing silver and gold stars, and Ginny found ones that changed color depending on the temperature. Harry's favorite by far, however, was the pair charmed to scream loudly when they became too smelly.

They were having a great deal of fun when Ron pointed out the time.

'It's nearly half past,' he said, pointing to the ornate clock above the till. He, Harry, and Hermione looked at each other, and Ginny could tell they weren't saying something.

'What happens at half past?' she asked, putting down a pair of socks made to look like glimmering fish.

'Er...' Harry stammered, not quite sure how much he should say.

'We're meeting up with...blimey, I almost said "You-Know-Who",' said Ron. 'But anyway, you know. We're supposed to meet him outside town at two.'

There was a brief but awkward pause. Then Ginny said, 'Could – could I come? I'd like to meet him.'

Ron shrugged. "I don't think it would be a good idea, but it's up to Harry."

Harry groaned inwardly. Of course it was up to him. If he were honest, he didn't think it was a good idea either, but he was on the spot now, and Ginny was pleading with him with her eyes, and for some reason the thought of refusing her made his stomach twist in knots. He was seriously regretting telling her about his godfather in the first place.

'She may as well come, Harry,' Hermione said. 'We're going to be late as it is, and she's not likely to learn anything we haven't already told her.'

Grateful for the escape Hermione provided, even if he still had misgivings, Harry pounced on it. 'All right, then, fine. But we need to hurry up or we really will be late.' Ginny looked so happy that it was almost worth the continued discomfort in his stomach at the thought of bringing her along. He just couldn't seem to win.

They quickly paid for the socks and made their way up the hight street.

'So are we just...letting you in on everything now?' Ron asked as they went past Dervish and Banges toward the edge of the village. The question was addressed to his sister, but was clearly meant for Harry and Hermione.

 _'_ Not _everything,'_ Ginny said. 'I know you three will always have some secrets. But, I mean, I already know about Sirius and I was already with you, and...'

'It's all right, Ginny,' Harry said, taking pity on her, for she was starting to look very nervous and awkward again. He didn't want her to feel like an intruder (even though in this instance he himself couldn't help thinking of her as one in the back of his mind – he shoved the feeling down). 'You probably would have met him eventually anyway, and it'll make him happy to know there's someone else who doesn't think he's a murderer.'

Ginny relaxed a little, but was still looking a bit apprehensive when they turned the last corner and discovered a stile at the end of the lane. Waiting there, its front paws on the topmost bar, was a very familiar looking shaggy black dog, carrying a load of newspapers in its mouth.

'Hello, Sirius,' said Harry when they reached him. The dog cocked its head inquisitively, indicating Ginny with its eyes.

'Don't worry,' Harry said quickly, 'that's Ron's sister Ginny. She knows.'

'H-hello, Mr Black,' Ginny said tentatively, giving a shaky little wave.

Sirius waited another moment, and then seemed to decide there was no point in arguing, or perhaps that there was no way for him to do it if he wanted to. He leaned forward and sniffed Harry's bag eagerly, wagged his tail once, then turned and began to trot away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to meet the rocky foot of the mountain outside the village. The four of them climbed over the stile and followed.

Sirius led them to the foot of the mountain, where rocks and boulders littered the landscape. With his four paws he had little trouble, but the four Hogwarts students were soon out of breath. Still, they continued on, following their canine guide up onto the mountain itself. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding, and stony path; they were sweating heavily in the sun and the straps of Harry's bag were cutting into his shoulders.

At last, Sirius slipped out of sight, and when they reached the place where he had vanished, they saw a narrow fissure in the rock. Squeezing through, they found themselves in a cool and dimly lit cave. At the end, tethered to a rock, was Buckbeak the hippogriff. He looked up as they entered and his fierce orange eye flashed at the sight of them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all bowed to him, and for a moment Harry worried that Ginny would not know how to behave, but a glance to his side saw her bowing as well. Noticing his surprised look, she smiled and said, 'I take Hagrid's classes too, you know. We did hippogriffs just after Christmas.' Harry couldn't help thinking that was a better idea than doing them straight away in the very first lesson, and was pleased Hagrid seemed to be learning from his mistakes.

Buckbeak regarded them imperiously for a moment, then bent his scaly knees forward and allowed Hermione to rush forward and stroke his feathery neck. Harry, meanwhile, turned his attention back to to the black dog, which was now transforming into his godfather.

Ginny gave a startled squeak, and he couldn't really blame her. For someone who'd never seen him before, Sirius' appearance was slightly alarming: he was wearing the same ragged grey robes as when he'd left Azkaban nearly two years ago. His black hair was longer than when Harry had seen him in the fire, and it was once more matted and untidy. He looked very thin.

'Chicken!' he cried hoarsely after taking the old newspapers out of his mouth and throwing them onto the cave floor.

Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken and bread.

'Thanks,' said Sirius, grabbing a drumstick and tearing into it. He sat down on the cave floor while he ate. 'I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself.'

He grinned up at Harry, who returned it only reluctantly.

Ginny was still looking at him with wide, uncertain eyes. He seemed to notice and paused from eating.

'Sorry if I startled you,' he said to her. 'These three have likely told you a bit about me, but they probably forgot to mention I look like something someone dug up.'

'You didn't when I talked to you in the fire,' Harry said before Ginny could respond, a mild note of accusation in his voice. 'What are you doing here, Sirius?'

'Fulfilling my duty as godfather,' said Sirius, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way. 'Don't worry about it; I'm pretending to be a lovable stray.'

 _ **He was still grinning, but something about Harry's face must have communicated his anxiety, for Sirius then struck a more serious tone. 'I want to be on the spot,' he said. 'Your last letter...well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried.'**_

 _ **He nodded at the pile of yellowing Daily Prophets on the cave floor; Ron picked them up and unfolded them. Harry, however, continued to stare at Sirius.**_

 _ **'What if they catch you? What if you're seen?'**_

 _ **'**_ _ **You lot and Dumbledore are the only ones who know I'm an Animagus,' said Sirius, shrugging, and continuing to devour the chicken leg.**_ They he paused again. 'At least, I assume so,' he added, glancing at Ginny, who hadn't moved much nor taken her eyes off him. 'You haven't told anyone besides Ron's sister, have you? How did that happen, by the way?'

'It was sort of an accident,' Harry admitted. 'We were in the library trying to figure out how I could make it through the second task. We were completely exhausted and I sort of mentioned you without thinking.' Sirius stared blankly at him, and he belatedly realized how that must have sounded. 'I don't mean I'm careless or anything!' He said quickly. 'It's just that Ginny's been helping a lot lately and I sort of...forgot she didn't already know.'

Sirius chuckled. 'At least that means you trust her,' he said. 'So I can, too. Nice to meet you, Ginny.'

'L-likewise,' Ginny said. 'I'm sorry I just barged in on you without warning. I should have let them tell you I knew before asking to come and see you.'

Sirius waved off her apology. 'It's all right; no harm done. And to be honest, anyone new I can talk to freely is a pleasure. I haven't had much for company in the last thirteen years, after all.' With this declaration, he went back to the chicken, and Ginny finally seemed to relax somewhat.

Ron nudged Harry and passed him two of the Daily Prophets. The first had a story about Mr. Crouch, and how no one had seen him in months. Apparently his house looked deserted, and St. Mungo's was refusing to make any comments to either confirm or deny any rumors.

'They're making it sound like he's dying,' said Harry slowly. 'But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here...'

'Our brother's Crouch's personal assistant,' Ron informed Sirius, indicating Ginny and himself. 'He says Crouch is suffering from Overwork.'

'Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close,' said Harry, still reading the story.

'When was that?' Ginny asked.

'The night my name came out of the goblet,' Harry answered distractedly, still scanning the article for anything else informative.

 _ **'**_ _ **Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?' said Hermione, joining the conversation with an edge to her voice. She was still stroking Buckbeak, who was now crunching up Sirius' discarded chicken bones. 'I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now – bet he feels the difference now she's not there to look after him.'**_

 _ **'Hermione's obsessed with house-elves,' Ron muttered to Sirius, casting Hermione a dark look. Sirius, however, looked interested.**_

 _ **'Crouch sacked his house-elf?'**_

Harry then proceeded to tell the story of the Dark Mark, and Winky being found with Harry's wand, and Mr Crouch's fury. When he finished, Sirius was on his feet and pacing up and down the cave.

'Let me get this straight,' he said eventually, having picked up a fresh chicken leg. 'You first saw the elf in the top box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?'

All four of them nodded.

'But he didn't turn up for the match?'

'No,' said Harry. 'I think he said he'd been too busy.'

Sirius paced a bit more, then said, 'Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the top box?'

 _ **'**_ _ **Erm...' Harry thought hard. 'No,' he said finally. '**_ _ **I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars.' He stared at Sirius. 'Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?'**_

 _ **'It's possible,' said Sirius.**_

 _ **'Winky didn't steal that wand!' Hermione insisted.**_

 _ **'The elf wasn't the only one in that box,' said Sirius as he continued to pace. 'Who else was up there with you?'**_

 _ **'Loads of people,' said Harry. 'Some Bulgarian ministers...Cornelius Fudge...the Malfoys...'**_

 _ **'The Malfoys!' said Ron suddenly, so loudly that his voice echoed all around the cave. 'I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!'**_

'Wouldn't be his first time tampering with people's things,' Ginny muttered darkly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at her in a moment of comisseration, but Sirius was still considering and didn't seem to have heard.

'Anyone else?' he asked.

'No one,' said Harry.

'No, that's not right,' Ginny broke in, trying to break the somber mood she'd created. 'Ludo Bagman was there, remember?'

 _ **'**_ _ **Oh, yeah...'**_

 _ **'I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps,' said Sirius. 'What's he like?'**_

 _ **'He's okay,' said Harry. 'He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament.'**_

 _ **'Does he, now?' said Sirius, frowning more deeply. 'I wonder why he'd do that?'**_

 _ **'Says he's taken a liking to me.'**_

 _ **'Hmm...'**_

 _ **'We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared,' Hermione mentioned. 'Remember?' she said to Harry and Ron.**_

 _ **'Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he?' said Ron. 'The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite.'**_

 _ **'How d'you know?' Hermione shot back. 'How d'you know where he Disapparated to?'**_

 _ **'Come off it,' said Ron incredulously. 'Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?'**_

 _ **'It's more likely he did it than Winky,' said Hermione stubbornly.**_

 _ **'Told you," said Ron, looking meaningfully at Sirius, 'told you she's obsessed with house -'**_

 __ _ **But Sirius held up a hand to silence him.**_

 _ **'When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?'**_

 _ **'Went to look in the bushes,' said Harry, 'but there wasn't anyone else there.'**_

 _ **'Of course,' Sirius muttered, pacing up and down, 'of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?'**_

 _ **'Yes,' said Hermione in a heated voice, 'he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled -'**_

 _ **'Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!' snapped Ron.**_

 _ **Sirius shook his head and said, 'She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.'**_

Ron didn't have anything to say to that. Hermione was looking a bit smug, and Ginny was regarding Sirius with what looked like newfound respect.

Sirius, meanwhile, began talking himself through the puzzle. _**'**_ _ **All these absences of Barty Crouch's ... he goes to the trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too. . . . It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak.'**_

 _ **'D'you know Crouch, then?' asked Harry.**_

 _ **Sirius's face darkened, and Harry was taken back to the night he first met his godfather – back when he still believed him to be a murderer.**_

 _ **'Oh, I know Crouch all right,' he said quietly. 'He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban – without a trial.'**_

'What?' cried Ron, Hermione, and Ginny together.

 _ **'**_ _ **You're kidding!' said Harry.**_

 _ **'No, I'm not,' said Sirius, ripping off another great hunk of chicken with his teeth. 'Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?'**_

All of them shook their heads.

 _ **'**_ _ **He was tipped for the next Minister for Magic,' said Sirius. '**_ _ **He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical - and power-hungry. Oh never a Voldemort supporter,' he said, reading the look on**_ _ **their faces**_ _ **. 'No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side . . . well, you wouldn't understand . . . you're too young...'**_

 _ **'That's what Dad said at the World Cup,' said Ron, with a trace of irritation in his voice. 'Try us, why don't you?'**_

 _ **Sirius ginned. '**_ _ **All right, I'll try you. . . .'**_ He paced once more up and down the cave, and then painted them a very grisly picture of what life had been like during the war. Deaths, disappearanes, no one knowing who Voldemort's supporters were, or even worse who might be under an imperius curse and serving him against their will. The Ministry in chaos, not knowing what to do, Muggles dying along with everyone else but not knowing why. Just hearing about it was terrifying; it was hard to imagine what it must have been like for people living through it.

'Times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others,' Sirius said at last. He then told them of how Crouch had over time grown increasingly harsh in his measures against the Death Eaters, up to and including granting the Aurors power to kill rather than simply apprehend, and authorizing use of the Unforgivable Curses on suspects. Sirius evidently had not been the only one sent to Azkaban without a trial. Despite all this, there were a number of supporters who'd had Crouch pegged for the next Minister for Magic once the war ended, until – Sirius told them with something that seemed like vindictive relish – Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd allegedly been trying to find Voldemort and return him to power.

'Crouch's son was caught?' gasped Hermione. Ginny's hand had gone to her mouth as well. Sirius told them what he knew of Crouch's son's capture – which wasn't much, as he'd been in prison himself at the time – and laughed when Hermione asked if he'd gotten his son off. The trial, apparently, had been little more than a showcase for how much Crouch hated his son. Sirius then told them of how he'd seen the nineteen year-old brought in, screaming for his mother.

'He went quiet after a few days, though...they all went quiet in the end. ...except when they shrieked in their sleep...'

There was a very uncomfortable pause, and the deadened look in Sirius's eyes became more pronounced than ever.

'So he's still in Azkaban?' Harry asked, trying to break the silence.

'No,' said Sirius dully. 'No, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in.'

And so had Crouch's ambitions. Sirius related to them all he'd heard since his escape about Crouch's huge drop in popularity after that incident, his wife's death from a broken heart, and how he was eventually pushed sideways into the job he held now.

'None of that explains what he was doing in the castle dungeons in the middle of the night, though,' said Ginny finally.

'No, it doesn't,' Sirius agreed. 'I can onlyguess. From everything I've heard, Crouch never seemed to let go of his old fervor for catching Dark wizards. I believe it. If you ask me, he still thinks he can bring his old popularity back by catching one more Death Eater.'

'So maybe he was looking into Snape!' said Ron triumphantly. 'You said you saw them meet in the corridor, right Harry?'

'Yeah...' said Harry hesitantly.

'That's what really confuses me,' said Sirius. 'If he wants to investigate Snape – or anyone at the school, really – why hasn't he been coming to judge the tournament? It would be an ideal excuse to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him.'

' _Do_ you think Snape could be up to something?' Harry asked, but Hermione broke in.

'Look, I don't care what you say; Dumbledore trusts Snape - '

'Oh, give it a rest, Hermione,' said Ron impatiently. 'I know Dumbledore's brilliant and everything, but that doesn't mean a really clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him - '

'Why did Snape save Harry's life in the first year, then? Why didn't he just let him die?'

'Wait, what?' asked Ginny, startled, but Ron rode right over her.

'I dunno – maybe he thought Dumbledore would kick him out or something.'

Hermione of course had an answer for that, too. Sirius was watching them with a bemused expression, and Ginny leaned over to Harry and muttered too quietly for anyone else to hear, 'Something tells me this is something of an old argument.'

Harry's mouth quirked and he rolled his eyes. 'You have no idea.' Then he said very loudly, 'What do you think, Sirius?' Ron and Hermione stopped bickering to listen.

'I think they've both got a point,' said Sirius. He told them about what Snape had been like at school, enamored with the Dark Arts, and how the people he'd hung around with nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters. He conceded that Snape was clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble if necessary.

'He knows Karkaroff pretty well,' Ginny said, and Harry remembered coming upon the two of them with Ginny while at the Yule Ball. 'But he wants to keep that quiet.'

'Yeah, you should have seen his face when Karkaroff turned up in Potions yesterday!' Harry said quickly. 'Karkaroff wanted to talk, and says Snape's been avoiding him. He looked really worried about something. He showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was.'

Unfortunately, Sirius didn't have any idea what it could have been either. He did think Karkaroff going to Snape for help was fishy, though. He stared at the cave wall for a minute, then grimaced in frustration.

'There's still the fact that Dumbledore trusts Snape,' he said, 'and I know Dumbledore trusts where a lot of other people wouldn't, but I just can't see him letting Snape teach at Hogwarts if he'd ever worked for Voldemort.'

'Why's Crouch so keen to look in on him, then?' said Ron stubbornly. 'And Moody's been hounding him a lot, too. It's got him even more surly than usual.'

Sirius didn't think Moody being suspicious of every single teacher in the castle was at all odd, but he did agree that Crouch's behavior didn't make any sense.

'You say your brother's Crouch's personal assistant?' he asked Ginny and Ron. 'Any chance you could ask him if he's seen Crouch lately?'

The two of them shared a dubious glance.

'Well, we can try,' said Ron doubtfully. 'Better not make it sound like we reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves Crouch.'

'I should probably be the one to ask him,' Ginny said. 'He's less likely to get shirty with me.' Ron agreed wholeheartedly to that.

'You might try to find out if they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it,' said Sirius.

'Bagman told me they hadn't,' said Harry.

'Yes, he's quoted in the article there,' Sirius said, pointing at the second newspaper Harry had yet to read. Then he told them how Bagman's description of Bertha as forgetful was the opposite of the nosy gossip he remembered from school. Before he could theorize much on that however, he heaved a great yawn and rubbed his darkened eyes.

'What's the time?'

'Half past three,' said Hermione.

'You'd better get back to school,' Sirius said, getting to his feet. 'Now listen,' he looked particularly hard at Harry, and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to send notes about anything else odd that happened, and not to try sneaking into Hogsmeade to see him.

'And don't forget,' he addressed them all now, 'if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?'

Ginny stifled a giggle.

He transformed back into the great black dog and accompanied them down to the edge of the village, where he allowed each of them to pat him on the head before setting off at a run around the outskirts, looking to scrounge another newspaper. The four of them began to make their way into the village proper and back to Hogwarts.

'Thanks for letting me come,' Ginny said to them after they'd set off.

'You're welcome,' said Harry, for lack of anything better to say. 'Did you like him?'

'He was a bit frightening at first, but he seems nice, and he really cares about you.'

'He invited me to live with him last year,' Harry said impulsively. 'I could have too, if Wormtail hadn't gotten away.'

'Oh!' said Ginny. 'I'm so sorry, Harry.'

'It's all right,' he said, even though in so many ways it wasn't. 'He has managed to make life with the Dursleys easier, at least.'

'How is that?'

Harry allowed himself a wicked grin. 'They know he's my godfather and everything,' he said, 'they just don't know he's not really a murderer.'

Ron and Ginny laughed, and even though Hermione made a tutting sound of disapproval, she couldn't hide the small smile forming on her own face as well.

They spent the next several minutes talking about their first meeting with Sirius – a story Ginny had never heard – and it wasn't until they were walking up the drive to the castle that the conversation turned back to what they'd discussed in the cave.

'Wonder if Percy knows all that stuff about Crouch?' Ron wondered aloud.

'He might not even care,' Ginny said. 'It would probably make him admire Crouch even more, come to think of it.'

'Yeah,' Ron agreed. 'Percy loves rules. He'd just say Crouch was refusing to break them for his own son.'

'Percy would never throw any of his family to the dementors,' said Hermione severely.

Ron and Ginny shared a look.

'I don't know...' said Ron. 'If he thought we were standing in the way of his career...'

'Percy's really ambitious, you know,' concurred Ginny, nodding.

They walked up the steps into the entrance hall, where the delicious smells of dinner filled the air. Ron breathed deeply.

'Poor old Snuffles,' he said. 'He must really like you, Harry. Imagine having to live off rats.'

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This one's a little shorter than I typically like my chapters to be; I had to cut a lot down since so much of it was the conversation in the cave and I couldn't just lift it all straight from the books.

If you're enjoying this (or want to, but there's something wrong with it), please let me know. Feedback is always appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

Back again! Hit a little bit of a snag near the end of this chapter, but I think I managed to get it all ironed out. 

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Sunday morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione traveled to the kitchens to deliver Dobby's present.

The little elf was absolutely over the moon about it. While there, Harry had the idea to pick up some extra food to send to Sirius.

Everything would have gone smoothly if Hermione hadn't asked after Winky. As they discovered, Winky had taken to drowning herself in butterbeer – something the other elves found to be incredibly shameful and embarrassing. Hermione, well-meaning though she may have been, gave an impassioned speech trying to rally the elves to stand up for their rights – which had the rather opposite effect of deeply offending them, resulting in the three students being hustled quickly out of the kitchens as soon as they'd been given their food.

Ron was quite upset about this, claiming they wouldn't be welcome in the kitchens anymore. He and Hermione were at each other's throats for most of the rest of the day, giving Harry such a headache that he decided to take Sirius's food up to the Owlery that evening by himself.

On his way out of the portrait hole, he ran into Ginny, who noticed what he was carrying.

'Is that for who I think it's for?' she asked quietly. Harry nodded.

'Want some company?' she asked. 'I was going to go send this to Percy.' She held up a letter.

'Is that asking about...?'

'Crouch, yeah,' she confirmed. 'I tried to be as diplomatic as I could; Percy's feathers can get ruffled really easily.'

'I've noticed,' Harry said with a grin. 'Though Fred and George seem to like ruffling them on purpose.'

Ginny laughed, then smiled guiltily. 'We all do sometimes,' she admitted.

'Well come on, then,' said Harry, chuckling, as he gestured for her to come with him. He was looking forward to a conversation that didn't involve heated comments about house elves.

'What's got Ron and Hermione so worked up?' Ginny asked once they were out in the corridor.

'We went to deliver Dobby's present this morning,' Harry began.

'Oh, did he like them?' Ginny asked, momentarily distracted. Her face lit up and Harry couldn't help but smile back.

'You should have seen him,' he said. 'I don't think I've seen him that happy since he was freed.'

'I'm glad,' said Ginny. 'So how did you go from that to...that?' She gestured back toward the common room, where Ron and Hermione were presumably still sniping at each other.

'Well, Winky was down there, too, you see.'

'Oh, dear,' said Ginny, clearly putting the pieces together.

'You can guess where this is going,' said Harry.

'Hermione said something to the elves about their rights, and Ron said something insensitive, and they've been going at it ever since, right?'

'You missed the part about Hermione actually offending the elves and Ron being upset at the idea of no longer being welcome in the kitchens.'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake...' said Ginny.

'Yeah, that was my day,' said Harry. 'How was yours?'

Ginny laughed. 'Nothing quite as eventful as that,' she said. 'I spent most of it outside by the lake with my dormmates. Oh!' she added, as though she'd just remembered something. 'And Colin Creevey apparently thinks you and I are best friends now, and he's been asking me about you.'

'What?'

'He and his brother came by around lunch time. I guess he saw me with you three in Hogsmeade yesterday and has decided that means I must know everything there is to know about you.'

Harry felt more than a little embarrassed. 'Er, sorry about that,' he said.

'Oh, don't worry about it,' said Ginny. 'I've been in the same year as Colin for three years; I'm used to him by now. Fred and George used to tease me that he and I made up the "Harry Potter Fan Club".'

'They used to torture me with that, too,' said Harry, remembering. 'I remember because Lockhart was here that year, and I kept thinking the worst thing that could possibly happen was for him to hear that I had a fan club – whether I actually did or not.'

'Oh, he was something else, wasn't he?' said Ginny. 'I mean, I admit I was a bit taken with him at first – I reckon a lot of people were – but even in the first year classes he didn't really seem to know what he was doing. I can only imagine what his high level classes were like.'

'If they were anything like ours, a lot of reenacting of his books,' grumbled Harry, recalling the humiliation of being Lockhart's favorite "actor" to play all the various monsters he'd supposedly vanquished.

'He made us do that, too,' Ginny said. 'Maybe he really did do the same thing for all years. I'll have to ask Fred and George to see what their classes were like.'

'I bet the two of them would have had a lot of fun with it, at least.'

'Probably,' Ginny agreed. 'Colin always did. He ended up doing a lot of the reenacting for us.' She gave a sidelong look at Harry before saying, 'He was over the moon when Lockhart told him he was just as good at it as you.' Startled, Harry looked over to see her watching him and wearing a very cheeky grin.

'Argh,' he groaned, smacking his face in embarrassment. 'Of course he would have told you all about it.'

'Only good things,' Ginny promised, though she was clearly enjoying herself. 'I'm given to understand that you make a very convincing werewolf.'

Harry shook his head, sighing heavily. 'I should've known that class would come back to haunt me eventually.' Inwardly, he was impressed that Ginny was able to talk so cavalierly about anything that had happened that year, but he was not foolish enough to say so aloud.

'It's all right,' Ginny said, patting his arm in mock sympathy. 'I reckon most people are just as keen to forget all about it as you are. After all, it's not as though people regularly take the mickey out of you for it, is it?'

'That's true,' Harry said.

'I'll just have to make up the slack,' she said in all seriousness, facing forward again. Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted to groan or laugh.

They continued to talk all the way up to the Owlery. Harry learned that Victoria Frobisher, one of Ginny's dormmates, was so behind on her Charms work that she had willingly subjected herself to a number of forfeits in order to get her friends to help her. The latest had been a swim in the lake in her underwear just that afternoon.

'Of course, we'd help her anyway,' Ginny said, when Harry winced and laughed at the same time. 'The forfeits were her idea. Vicky's not big on asking for help, so this is her way around feeling like she's taking advantage.'

'I hope Hermione doesn't learn about this,' said Harry. 'She might start getting ideas and then Ron and I will have to do all sorts of _spew_ work or worse...do our own homework.'

'She won't hear it from me.'

They talked about Hagrid's classes – after spending so much of last year watching flobberworms, it was interesting to hear what the third years were doing this year now Hagrid had a year's experience and some confidence under his belt. Some of the lessons actually sounded quite fun – though he was sure just about anything would be better than the skrewts the fourth years were currently saddled with.

'I don't know how you can stand being anywhere near those things,' Ginny said, shuddering. 'I really hope he doesn't have us doing those next year.'

'Who knows?' said Harry, shrugging. 'It doesn't sound like he's keeping things entirely consistent from year to year. Besides, he might not even be able to get more of them. I'm not sure where the ones he has even came from, and most of them have died.'

'Such a shame,' Ginny said, sighing dramatically. 'I might be doomed to spending my entire fourth year learning about pterippi and unicorns.'

'How ever will you cope?' asked Harry dryly as they entered the Owlery.

Harry let Ginny use Hedwig to send the letter to Percy, as she hadn't had much to do lately and he didn't like the idea of her sitting up in the Owlery by herself all the time. Afterwards Ginny helped him secure the package of food to Pig and two school owls – Ron's pet being far too small to carry the load by himself. It was an odd sight watching the three birds fly off; Harry leant against the windowsill and looked out over the grounds, enjoying a rare moment of peace. Ginny put her elbows next to his on the sill and leaned out also, but didn't say anything. There was a companionable silence as they surveyed the wind in the trees, and the rippling of the sails on the Durmstrang ship that was swaying ever so slightly out on the lake.

An eagle owl flew through the smoke billowing out of Hagrid's cabin and toward them before circling behind the Owlery and out of sight.

'Look, it's Hagid,' Ginny said suddenly, and Harry looked down. He was digging energetically in front of his cabin.

'Making a new vegetable patch, you suppose?' Harry wondered aloud.

'Could be. Odd place for it, though. There'll be a lot of foot traffic through there.'

As they watched, Madame Maxime approached and appeared to be trying to engage Hagrid in conversation, but did not stay long.

'I wonder what _that_ was about,' Ginny mused.

'Trying to make amends, maybe?' Harry suggested.

'Doesn't look like it went very well if that's the case.'

'Can't say I blame him,' said Harry.

'Hmm.'

Silence slipped over them again as they absently watched Hagrid dig. Before long, darkness began to fall and some of the owls started waking up.

'We should probably get going,' Harry said finally. The two of them made their way out of the Owlery and back towards Gryffindor Tower, talking aimlessly about inconsequential things. They returned to find that Ron and Hermione had apparently tired of snarling at each other some time ago and had gone upstairs. With a start, Harry realized he'd completely forgotten about their squabble until that moment. However irritated he'd been with them earlier in the evening, he went to bed that night in a surprisingly good mood.

~O~

The next day began with a swarm of owls inundating Hermione at the breakfast table with hate mail. It turned out a number of people had taken Rita Skeeter's article seriously and were under the impression they were doing right by him by threatening to curse the awful girl who was stringing him along – or by sending her an envelope full of undiluted bubotuber pus.

'Ouch!' she shriked with the petrol-smelling liquid spilled out over her hands, which immediately began to erupt in large yellow boils.

Hermione spend all of Herbology in the hospital wing, along with most of Care for Magical Creatures, where the mystery of what Hagrid had been doing the night before turned out to be burying a patch of leprechaun gold for them to find with adorable little creatures called nifflers.

Ron, whose niffler found the most gold and won him a giant slab of Honeyduke's chocolate, was feeling rather sullen at the discovery that leprechaun gold vanished, and that he hadn't actually paid Harry back for the omnioculars during the World Cup. Hermione's attempts to cheer him up somehow evolved into her swearing revenge on Rita Skeeter, and vowing to find out how the woman had been eavesdropping despite being banned from the grounds. Harry and Ron were relieved to hear that she was not expecting them to help.

The days leading up to the Easter holidays were filled mostly with Harry assuring people that Hermione was not, nor had she ever been, his girlfriend. Over the break, things seemed to die down as people either started to believe him, or, as he thought was more likely, simply got bored with the rumor. They were reminded again at the end of the week, however, when Ginny came up to them by the fire the evening before term was set to begin. She was carrying a package.

'Easter eggs from Mum,' she said as she sat down on the couch in the chair across from Harry's. 'Er, she gets _Witch Weekly_ for the recipies,' she explained apologetically to Hermione, who was looking sadly at an egg smaller than a chicken's, while the other three were the size of dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee. 'Percy's sent his reply along with it,' she added quickly, perhaps trying to draw Hermione's attention away, 'Only it's not very helpful. Here, have a look.' She passed the letter to Harry, who looked it over and scoffed. It was short and irritated.

 _Ginny, I don't know what's got you asking about this. I hope you're not picking up_

 _Ron's habit of meddling in others' business. Anyway, as I'm constantly telling the_

Daily Prophet, _Mr Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending regular_

 _owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him,_ _but I think I can be trusted_

 _to know my own superior's handwriting. I hate to sound rude, but I have quite_

 _enough to do at the moment without trying to quash ridiculous rumors. Please don't_

 _write to me again unless it's something important. And if it was Ron who put you_

 _up to this, please tell him the same. Happy Easter._

'If he's less shirty with you, I'm glad we didn't have Ron write to him,' Harry said.

'He was giving me the benefit of the doubt, thinking it was you lot who made me write to him,' Ginny said, unfazed. 'See the part where he says, "I hate to sound rude"? He wouldn't have said that to anyone else besides Mum and Dad. Well, maybe Bill.'

'She's right,' Ron agreed. 'This was probably the best we could've hoped for, honestly. Still, worth a try, wasn't it?'

'Well, we have confirmed one thing,' Hermione said. 'If he's still writing to Percy, then he hasn't just up and disappeared. Though that doesn't really explain anything else he's been doing.'

As there was no Quidditch match to prepare for, and he was exempt from final exams, Harry found himself with not very much to do throughout the month of May. Hermione couldn't even badger him about preparing for the third task, as nobody yet had any idea what it was. Finally, near the end of the month, he was sent down to the Quidditch pitch in the evening. There, Ludo Bagman revealed to them that the final task was to be a massive hedge maze full of creatures and enchantments to get past. He once again hinted that he'd be happy to help Harry out, but Harry managed to deflect him.

Afterward, Viktor Krum wanted to talk to him – about Hermione, of all things. Harry would have laughed were the situation not so odd. Would that an awkward conversation had been the strangest thing to happen that night.

~O~O~

'Go over it again, Harry,' Ron said.

'Aghh, we've been over it a dozen times!' Harry complained. He had immediately sought out Ron and Hermione in the common room the night before to tell them everything that had happened out on the grounds. They ended up discussing it well into the night, and then headed straight to the owlery to tell Sirius about it.

'I know, but it still doesn't make any sense! There has to be something we're missing.'

'I told you, one minute I was telling Krum that I'm not dating Hermione, and the next thing he was just there, at the edge of the woods. He looked like he'd been travelling for days.'

'But _why_ was Crouch in the woods?' Ron insisted again. That he was looking for Dumbledore hadn't seemed enough of an explanation.

'Your guess is as good as mine,' Harry said. 'I told you, he was acting really strange. What _I'd_ like to know is where he went while I was getting Dumbledore.'

Hermione seemed to think it likely that whomever had stunned Viktor Krum had also been responsible for Mr Crouch's disappearance, or else Crouch himself had attacked Krum and then run off. Ron put forward the theory that perhaps Krum had been the attacker (then stunned himself to divert suspicion), until it was pointed out that Crouch should still have been there when Harry returned with Dumbledore were that the case.

They once again tried to make sense of what Crouch had been saying (or trying to say, rather, in his seemingly delirious state), but weren't having any more luck than before. Harry remained unnerved by the fact that Crouch had seemed at his most lucid when trying to warn about Voldemort. They were waylaid from delving back into this detail, however, by the unexpected arrival in the Owlery of Fred and George, who were arguing fervently with each other about something. Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught enough of their conversation to know that they were thinking about blackmailing someone (which they denied, of course).

This sidetracked Ron, who was concerned that maybe the twins might be getting into things they shouldn't. He revealed that they had been overly focused on making money lately, for their joke shop, and that he was worried just how far the would go for that goal. This conversation took them all the way back downstairs, where Hermione suggested talking to Professor Moody about Mr Crouch. Dumbldore had sent the old auror into the forest looking for him the night before.

'Probably not the best idea at this hour,' Harry said. 'He'd probably think we were coming to attack him in his sleep and blast us through the door. Let's have some breakfast and we can talk to him during break.'

'Good idea,' Ron agreed as they turned to enter the Great Hall. 'I don't fancy sitting through Binns as a ferret. Mind, it might actually make the class more interesting, now that I think about it.'

'For the rest of us, at least,' said Hermione with a slight smile. 'In the meantime, why don't we see what Ginny thinks about all this?' She gave Harry a look that he was not yet awake enough to interpret, but it was Ron who answered first.

'So, we really are telling her everything now?' he asked.

'Oh, stop being ridiculous, Ron,' Hermione chided. 'She already knows the whole story, and a fresh set of ears might help us make sense of all this. She might notice something we overlooked.'

'Couln't hurt,' said Harry, who had just spotted Ginny's bright red hair at the Gryffindor table, sitting amongst her friends. 'That should probably wait until after breakfast too, though.' He didn't think bringing it up in front of so many other people was a good idea.

'Definitely,' Ron agreed (though likely for a different reason – his stomach had just growled violently). He forged on ahead while Harry turned to Hermione.

'Should we ask her about Fred and George too, you reckon?'

Hermione's face screwed up in thought. 'I don't know,' she said finally. 'I mean, I am a little worried after what Ron said, but we don't _really_ know what they're up to, do we? It could be nothing.' She almost sounded as if she believed it.

'Could be,' Harry went along. He decided not to press the issue for the time being.

~O~

It wasn't until late that night that Harry actually did speak to Ginny about what had happened on the edge of the forest. Hermione had gone off to the library on her quest to discover Rita Skeeter's secret method of eavesdropping, and Ron had been challenged to a game of chess by Seamus and Dean, who reckoned that by working together, they stood a chance at beating him. As Ron most certainly did not need his help, Harry didn't find the idea of observing the game to be very enticing. He noticed Ginny sitting alone in an alcove by one of the windows, working on what looked like her Astronomy homework.

'I don't see you by yourself in here too often,' he said, approaching her. She gave a jump, and then put her hand on her chest as though to steady herself.

'Harry!' she exclaimed. 'Don't startle me like that!'

'Sorry,' he said, laughing a little. 'Didn't realize you were so engrossed. Can I sit or do you want to be left alone?' He knew all too well what that feeling was like, and didn't want to intrude where he wasn't wanted.

'No, it's fine,' she said, indicating the chair opposite her at the small table she'd sprawled her work out on. 'I'm just sort of avoiding my dormmates at the moment.'

'Anything wrong?' he asked, taking a seat.

She rolled her eyes melodramatically and heaved a great sigh. 'Sharon and Rikissa are fighting over a _boy_ , and we're all expected to take sides, only I don't want to because it's stupid. They'll either never be friends again, or they'll have forgotten it all in a week when one of them decides she fancies someone else. I really don't want to deal with it.'

'Sounds like this has happened before,' Harry said, quirking an eyebrow.

'Only a few times,' she said. 'Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd say they do it to each other on purpose just because they like fighting about it.'

Harry decided right at that moment that he would never understand girls. Rather than say so, however, he told her the gist of what he had seen the night before.

'And you just...left him there with Krum?' she asked when he was finished, dropping her quill to the table. Her Astronomy homework was quite forgotten.

'What was I supposed to do?' he retorted. 'We had to do something, and trying to get him to come with us would've been like wrangling a full-grown skrewt. You didn't see him; he was out of his mind. Kept talking about how he had to see Dumbledore, that Voldemort was getting stronger, like it was the hardest thing in the world for him to say. Then he'd switch to talking to a tree thinking it was Percy, asking for tea. It was mad.'

'Do you think he was under some kind of curse?' Ginny asked.

'Maybe,' Harry said. 'Some kind of memory charm gone wrong or something? Half the time he didn't seem to know where he was, and at least once he talked about his wife and son like they were still alive. Kept saying something was his fault.'

'Well, his son going to Azkaban sort of was his fault,' Ginny put in.

'That's what Hermione said,' replied Harry. 'She reckons his son got a raw deal, same as Sirius and Winky. Would guilt over that be enough to make him go mad, you think?'

'Bugger if I know,' she shrugged, surprising Harry with her casual profanity. Then again, she was related to Ron. 'What else did he say?'

'Not much. Mostly just that he had to see Dumbledore. That's when I went to get him.'

'Then what happened?'

Harry had gone through this so many times that by now he felt like he could do it by rote. He related to Ginny his mad dash back to the castle, his brief encounter with Professor Moody in the Entrance Hall, and his several failed attempts to enter the headmaster's office (which were made worse by the entirely unhelpful intervention of Snape).

'Luckily, Dumbldore came out on his own, and we headed back. I've never seen Dumbledore run before, but he got pretty close to it. I checked the map to see if they were both still there and they were, but by the time we got there, Krum had been stunned and Crouch was gone.'

'When did you see them on the map?' Ginny asked.

'Right when Dumbledore and I left his office. I only got the one quick look, since I didn't want him to see what I was looking at.'

'That would be an interesting conversation,' Ginny said, smiling. Just as quickly, her face turned serious again. 'So whoever stunned Krum did it in the time it took you and Dumbledore to get out there from his office.'

'Looks that way,' Harry said. 'And like I said, we were walking really fast. We got there before Moody did, and his office is only on the second floor.'

'He does have his leg slowing him down a bit,' Ginny said. 'Still, it's too bad he didn't go straight out there; he might've caught whoever did it, or at least seen them.'

'That's what he said when we talked to him today,' Harry explained. 'He was really angry with himself. Said he was looking around the forest for hours last night but didn't find anything.'

'He couldn't have known what would happen,' Ginny said.

'Don't try telling him that,' said Harry, remembering the talk he, Ron, and Hermione had had with the old ex-auror. '"Constant Vigilance!", remember?' Ginny smiled briefly, then a thought struck her.

'Has anyone thought to ask Snape about this?' she asked. 'I mean, we know he's met with Crouch at least twice in the middle of the night, right?'

'The only problem there is we'd have to explain how we know about that, and I can't see that going well,' Harry said. He certainly had thought about it, though. He would need to find out a way to bring it up without revealing his source of information. The last thing he needed was Snape thinking Harry was sneaking around and following him after dark. Ginny nodded her agreement.

'Is this what you three were doing this morning, then?' she then asked. 'Neville said you left really early for breakfast, but didn't turn up in the Great Hall until it was nearly over.'

'We sent a letter to Sirius,' Harry muttered quietly, careful that no one could overhear. 'He told us to keep him updated on anything odd going on, and this definitely qualified.'

'I'd say so. I wonder what he'll make of it.'

'Hopefully something. I've been over it so many times now without coming up with anything; I think I'm going spare.'

'Let's stop talking about it, then,' Ginny offered. 'At least for now. Give yourself a break. I mean, if you've already talked to Dumbledore, Moody, and Sirius, there's not much else you really can do, right?'

'That's true,' Harry admitted. Hermione had said the same thing after their talk with Moody, for all discussing it with Ginny had been her idea. Still, it was going to be difficult to take his mind off of it, and he said as much.  
'Well, I don't suppose you fancy helping me with my Astronomy homework, do you?' she asked, indicating the work she'd spread out all over the little table.

'Er, okay,' Harry stammered, a little taken aback. He wasn't used to people asking him for help with homework; he was usually the one asking. Truth be told, he wasn't sure how helpful he could actually be, but it felt wrong to refuse.

'Hang on,' Ginny said, apparently picking up on his apprehension. 'What are your grades in there?' she asked, leaning toward him with one lowered eyebrow, giving him a look of utmost suspicion.

'I think I average around ninety percent,' Harry said. 'Not bad, but not Hermione, either.'

'Oh, all right then,' said Ginny, relaxing with a sigh. 'That's better than me. I'm usually lucky if I can scrape eighty-five.' She pushed the scroll she had been working on toward him. Harry felt relief upon seeing that it was all about Jupiter's moons. At least it was something he was fairly confident he knew well. As he began to look it over, he also inwardly struggled with whether or not to ask Ginny her opinion on Fred and George's activities of late. If he were honest, he rather shared Ron's feelings that ratting them out – even to someone like Ginny, who wasn't likely to get them in trouble – felt a little too much like Percy for his tastes.

He ultimately chickened out, telling himself that if they really were getting themselves into trouble, there was nothing Ginny could do about it, and there was no sense worrying her with it if he didn't have to. He almost believed it, too.

By the time they finished diagramming the last moon's orbit, Ron's chess game had wrapped up, Hermione had returned from the library, and people were making their way up to their dormitories.

'Thanks for your help, Harry,' Ginny said with a smile, rolling up her now-completed assignment. 'I was worried I'd be up half the night on this.'

'Good to know Ron and I aren't the only ones to put our homework off,' he replied.

'At least you two have Hermione to keep you on track,' Ginny said. 'The rest of us have to fend for ourselves.'

'I'd be doomed,' Harry joked.

'You might make it, but Ron wouln't. He'd be getting howlers from Mum about it every month.'

Harry shuddered, remembering the one time Mrs Weasley actually had sent a howler – after he and Ron had stolen Mr Weasley's car and flown it to Hogwarts in full view of several muggles. He could happily go his whole life without having to relive that experience.

'Thank Merlin for Hermione, then,' he said.

'Oh? What have I done now?' asked Hermione, who had come over to join them (Ron was trying to talk Seamus and Dean into a rematch). She pulled up a chair to the small table they were seated at.

'You're saving us all from Howlers from Ron's mum,' Harry explained. 'By making sure he does his homework.'

'Oh, for heaven's sake,' Hermione tutted, rolling her eyes. 'You two don't need me to tell you to do your homework, you just need to take some responsibility.'

'Maybe when we're older, eh?' Harry joked. Hermione just rolled her eyes again. Then she turned to Ginny.

'Has harry told you about what happened last night?' she asked. Almost immediately, Ginny's expression shifted, and she let out a very annoyed-sounding grunt-like sigh.

' _Yes,_ he has,' she said. 'And I was _trying_ to distract him from fretting about it, as he's clearly been doing all day. Thanks, Hermione.'

Hermione winced. 'Sorry.'

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the contrite look on Hermione's face.

'It's all right, Hermione,' he said. 'You were right before; now that we've talked to Moody about it, there really isn't anything else we can do except wait to see what he finds out.'

Herminoe visibly relaxed. He thought he saw her share a look with Ginny, but he couldn't figure out what was meant by it.

'It's too bad Professor Moody doesn't have a map like yours,' Ginny said. 'I reckon it would make his search go a lot faster.'

'I actually considered telling him about it, to be honest,' Harry said. 'But what if he or Dumbldore took it and I never got it back?' Rulebreaking opportunities aside, it was one of the few concrete links he had to his father; he'd rather not give it up. Not to mention the thought of Snape learning about it curdled his insides like moldy old cheese.

'That's understandable,' Ginny said, before Hermione could say anything. 'It was your dad's after all. It makes sense you'd want to hang on to it. And everyone's on the lookout for Crouch now, and Moody's got that eye of his. If he comes back, they'll find him.'

'You've got more important things to worry about now anyway, Harry,' Hermione said, changing the subject. 'Moody was right; now you know what the third task is, you really ought to start preparing for it.'

'Oh, you know what it is?' Ginny said, sounding excited.

'Yeah, that's what we were down on the grounds for,' said Harry, chuckling. 'Guess I forgot to mention that part.'

'What is it, then?'

'They've turned the Quidditch pitch into a hedge maze,' he explained. 'Only temporarily!' he added quickly, for Ginny had let out a gasp of horror. He hadn't realized she was such a Quidditch fan. 'Anyway, it's supposed to be full of monsters and traps and jinxes and who knows what else. Moody reckons I ought to practice up some defensive spells to prepare.'

'That actually sounds kind of fun,' Ginny said. 'More than the first two tasks, anyway. At least you know exactly what to expect this time.'

'Well, we don't know _exactly_ what creatures or spells he'll have to contend with,' Hermione said, 'but overall I think this is a much more advantageous position to be in than the first two tasks, yes.'

'What kinds of spells are you going to practice?' Ginny asked.

'Haven't quite worked that part out yet,' Harry admitted. 'We were going to start looking at some tomorrow.'

'Can I help?'

'If you want,' Harry said. He was learning it would largely be a waste of time to try talking her out of it even if he wanted to, and he didn't really want to.

'Great,' she said, smiling brilliantly.

Hermione seemed pleased as well. Harry supposed that it must be nice for her to have another girl around for a change.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

This chapter ended up somewhat shorter than I would typically like, but I didn't really have any choice considering what's coming up next; this was the most logical place to put a break.

If you're enjoying the story, please consider leaving a review. It not only helps me to know what's working and what I need to improve, it also does wonders at keeping my spirits up. Thanks very much to all those who have reviewed already. I try to reply to reviews as often as I can, but honestly sometimes I just forget, or – as was the case at least once this time – the reply function actually didn't work. Rest assured I read all of them though, and take them to heart.


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